BAGHDAD, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The United States has stepped up the timetable for creating a new Iraqi army, with plans for 40,000 troops by next year, the New York Times said Thursday.
Walter Slocombe, in charge of rebuilding Iraqi security institutions, said the new goal is 27 battalions organized in three divisions within 12 months, twice as fast as initially planned. The projected total of 40,000 is less than a tenth of the former Iraqi armed forces.
The speeding up of plans to deploy an Iraqi army that might relieve some of the pressure on U.S. forces comes against a backdrop of mounting difficulties in Iraq for the Bush administration.
Attempts to raise billions of dollars for reconstruction, to secure more foreign troops and to stamp out resistance to the U.S.-led occupation have met with mixed results.
The Bush administration is pushing to raise as much as $10 billion for Iraq at a donors' conference in Madrid next month.
