US To Keep 50,000 Garrison In Iraq For Protracted Time
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Courtesy Of: The Telegraph
By Francis Harris in Washington
Filed: 12/06/2006

America plans to retain a garrison of 500,000 troops, one tenth of its entire army, in Iraq for years to come, according to US media reports.

The revelation came as George W. Bush summoned his top political, military and intelligence aides to a summit on Iraq's future today at the presidential retreat at Camp David.

...But despite fierce domestic pressure to reduce troop levels before November's critical mid-term elections, there were growing signals that Gen George Casey, America's Iraq commander, may raise troop levels in the short term.

...America's military would be drawn into any defining battle over who rules Iraq.

General Casey has already summoned his main reserve unit, a 3,500 man armoured brigade based in Kuwait and has alerted a Germany-based brigade that it may be needed soon.

Military planners have begun to assess the costs of keeping a 50,000-man force in Iraq for a protracted period of time. At present the total number of serving American troops is about 500,000.

...Military analysts have noted that significant American spending is already being committed to permanent bases in Iraq.

Source:
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=//news/2006/06/12/wirq12.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/12/ixnews.html