Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Post
November 17, 2006
Pg. 21
WASHINGTON — About 2,200 Marines are headed from their ships in the Persian Gulf to an undisclosed location in Iraq’s western Anbar province to help shore up U.S. combat power in an area riddled with insurgent violence.
The move, intended as a short-term measure, is evidence of the severity of the conflict in Anbar. The insurgency is entrenched and well-organized in a province where U.S. soldiers and Marines are being killed almost daily.
Maj. Matt McLaughlin, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said yesterday that members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit were “in the process of transitioning and moving” from their ships to a transit point for deployment to Anbar. He said he could not discuss specifics of their mission or exact destination.
It will be the unit’s third tour in Iraq. It participated in the initial invasion in March 2003 and returned in March 2005.
There already are about 30,000 U.S. troops in Anbar, which includes the trouble spots of Fallujah and Ramadi. The province stretches west from Baghdad to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In all of Iraq there are about 141,000 U.S. troops.
--AP
November 17, 2006
Pg. 21
WASHINGTON — About 2,200 Marines are headed from their ships in the Persian Gulf to an undisclosed location in Iraq’s western Anbar province to help shore up U.S. combat power in an area riddled with insurgent violence.
The move, intended as a short-term measure, is evidence of the severity of the conflict in Anbar. The insurgency is entrenched and well-organized in a province where U.S. soldiers and Marines are being killed almost daily.
Maj. Matt McLaughlin, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said yesterday that members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit were “in the process of transitioning and moving” from their ships to a transit point for deployment to Anbar. He said he could not discuss specifics of their mission or exact destination.
It will be the unit’s third tour in Iraq. It participated in the initial invasion in March 2003 and returned in March 2005.
There already are about 30,000 U.S. troops in Anbar, which includes the trouble spots of Fallujah and Ramadi. The province stretches west from Baghdad to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In all of Iraq there are about 141,000 U.S. troops.
--AP