WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The Defense Department announced Wednesday it has tapped a new unit to move into Kuwait for combat in Iraq.
The 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., will deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in early January 2007.
The unit will become the theater command's call-forward force.
The call-forward force is an additional combat unit that can be tapped to move anywhere in Iraq for offensive campaigns or to reinforce a unit under strain. The brigade can be broken into its components -- battalion or company -- and sent for any length of time, but is often just used for several weeks or months.
The brigade replaces the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) which deployed from its call-forward location in Kuwait to support the ongoing operations in Anbar province in November.
With that unit tied down, the U.S. military commander in Iraq loses some of his flexibility to respond to fresh crises or take initiative in offensive operations without sacrificing day-today security missions.
This is the MEU's third deployment to Iraq.
The announcement comes as the White House weighs a proposal to add some 30,000 troops to Iraq, on top of the 140,000 there now, to try to quell violence in Baghdad.
A proposal put forth by Frederick Kagan, a military analyst with the American Enterprise Institute and briefed to the White House about two weeks ago, recommends a "surge" of infantry into Baghdad in the spring with a major offensive undertaken in the summer of 2007 to halt militia violence and protect Iraqis. Kagan argues that if the campaign is successful, many U.S. troops could be withdrawn from Iraq in 18 to 24 months.
