Pentagon plans to keep 135,000 troops in Iraq until end of 2005

WASHINGTON -- U.S. commanders plan to keep American troops at the current level in Iraq -- about 135,000 -- until the end of 2005, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

The decision acknowledges Iraq is much more unstable and dangerous than generals had hoped earlier this year, when they planned to cut the number of troops occupying Iraq to about 115,000.

Since then, violence by Sunni and Shiite Muslim extremists has surged, making April the deadliest month for American troops since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Several U.S. allies also have decided to pull their forces out, most notably Spain, which had about 2,300 troops in one of the most volatile areas of south-central Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday ordered about 10,000 active-duty Army soldiers and Marines to prepare to ship out to Iraq in the next few months.

They will help replace 20,000 soldiers who were being kept in Iraq for as long as three months past their one-year tours of duty.

Another 10,000 active-duty troops will be called up to fill out the replacement forces.

Many of the troops being sent to Iraq have served there or in Afghanistan before. They will return to a country where ambushes and roadside bombs are more common and the political situation is unstable, with the United States set to hand limited power to a yet-unnamed Iraqi caretaker government on July 1.

The active-duty units ordered to Iraq Tuesday include the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division. The Marine units are the 11th and 24th Marine Expeditionary Units.

Rumsfeld also approved sending 37,000 support troops to Iraq on Tuesday as part of the scheduled rotation of forces. Most of those troops are in National Guard and Army Reserve units. So far, the Missouri National Guard lists the 735th out of Poplar Bluff as the only Missouri troops involved in that rotation.

Staff reporter Tony Rehagen contributed to this report.