Pat Dollard | Young Americans

ARLINGTON, Va. — There will be 140,000 U.S. troops deployed to Iraq by late July, after the “surge” troops have been removed, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.

The 140,000 troops are an increase of 8,000 over the 132,000 U.S. troops who were in Iraq in January 2007, immediately before the decision to “surge” an additional five combat brigades and two Marine battalions with supporting forces, into the country, according to Army Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, the Joint Staff’s director for operations.

“It’s bigger than when we started the surge, that’s for sure,” Ham said of the predicted July 2008 troop level.

It’s also more than the 130,000 troops that many members of Congress had been expecting post-surge.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Ham said that all of the combat “surge” troops will be withdrawn according to schedule, by the end of July.

The additional 8,000 troops, he said, include some of the support elements that came with the “surge” forces, as well as some “emerging requirements” that have developed since. Examples cited include logistics troops, aviation units, a division headquarters, military police, and detainee operations troops.

Ham also said that there will be 32,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan by “late summer,” more than the 28,000 troops there now.

Asked whether that is an all-time high for forces in Afghanistan, Ham replied, “it is.”

However, both these force posture levels are “conditions-based” and will ultimately reflect “the fluid nature of the conflict we’re in,” Ham said.

Asked what the larger-than-expected number of troops means for Iraq, Ham said, “I think it means conditions are ever-changing.”

“Rather than look at this negatively,” he said, “there is an opportunity now to take advantage” of security brought by the additional surge troops. The higher troops levels will “sustain that, and not jeopardize the gains that have been achieved,” Ham said.

The higher troop levels cast doubt on predictions that the Army was going to announce a rollback from 15-month to 12-month deployments later this spring.

“The desire to get back to 12 months … is a very, very high priority,” Ham said.

Ham said that Pentagon leaders remained concerned about the stress on the force provoked by the longer deployments.

“This has very, very high level of attention from the military leadership here,” Ham said, “and as soon as its practical,” the deployments will go back to 12 months.

(Stars & Stripes)

Nods to LftBhndAgn.