Rumsfeld OKs Increase in Iraqi Forces

[NVMojo]

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday endorsed a proposal to spend at least $1 billion to expand the size and accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces.

While the plan still must get final approval from the White House and the money would have to be approved by Congress, Rumsfeld's support underscores the Bush administration's effort to shift more of the burden of Iraq's security to that country's forces.

"I'm very comfortable with the increases they've proposed and the accelerations in achievement of some of their targets," Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon, noting that the Iraqi government and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, both recommended expanding Iraqi forces.

"Now it's simply a matter of our pressing forward and getting our portion of the funding from the Congress and working to see that it's executed," Rumsfeld said. He did not say how much extra U.S. money would be required.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-exec/2006/nov/01/110102140.html

[Botany]

1. So the total # of Iraqi Battalions that can operate on their own is?

Class? Anybody?

That would be 0, zero, zip, nada, less then 1, and so on.