Tours of duty in Iraq will be extended for thousands of U.S. troops

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.wvec.com/news/military/stories/wvec_military_092305_iraq_extensions.86a65383.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- About 9,400 active-duty U.S. troops in Iraq who are scheduled to finish one-year tours in January will be kept there an extra seven to 10 days, the Pentagon said Friday.

Lawrence Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said those troops will be held over so that a transition to the units replacing them will not begin during the Iraqi election scheduled for December.

He said Rumsfeld approved the tour extensions Thursday night.

"This is to maintain stability of U.S. forces during the elections," said another Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman.

The Pentagon has made a commitment to all deployed troops in Iraq -- both active-duty and National Guard and Reserve -- that they will serve no more than 12 months there, but in some cases it has exceeded that limit.

[tatertop]

1. 7 to 10 days, why bother?

[acmavm]

2. I wonder how long the extensions will really last.

.

[tatertop]

3. that's what I was thinking

four to six months maybe.
I would go AWOL.

[soup]

4. freedom's on the March

and April and May and June and ...... :( :grr:

Welcome to DU, tatertop.

[warrens]

5. They're full of it

My niece's fiancee has been there for a year and they just extended his whole unit three months.