[link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031001397_pf.html|Washington Post]:

Sunday, March 11, 2007; A01

ANCHORENA PARK, Uruguay, March 10 -- President Bush approved 8,200 more U.S. troops for Iraq and Afghanistan on top of reinforcements already ordered to those two countries, the White House said Saturday, a move that comes amid a fiery debate in Washington over the Iraq war.

The president agreed to send 4,700 troops to Iraq in addition to the 21,500 he ordered to go in January, mainly to provide support for those combat forces and to handle more anticipated Iraqi prisoners. He also decided to send a 3,500-member brigade to Afghanistan to accelerate training of local forces, doubling his previous troop increase to fight a resurgent Taliban.

Although officials had foreshadowed the additional forces for Iraq in recent days, the latest troop increase in Afghanistan had not been known and will bring U.S. forces there to an all-time high. The deployments underscore the challenges facing the United States in both countries and further stretch an already strained military. In Iraq particularly, the moves could fuel suspicions that a troop increase initially described as a temporary "surge" may grow larger and last longer than predicted.

Bush did not comment on his decision during the second day of a six-day Latin America tour. But aides released a letter he signed Friday night aboard Air Force One as he flew to Uruguay from Brazil, asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for $3.2 billion in emergency funding to pay for the additional units. He proposed cuts in other spending to offset the cost.

[...]

Officials have signaled that even more forces may yet be dispatched to Iraq. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told lawmakers this week that as many as 7,000 additional support troops may be sent. And the commander for northern Iraq said he needs more troops to quell sectarian violence.

Petraeus seems inclined to extend the mission beyond the six-month time frame envisioned by his predecessor, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. Casey and other officials had said they hoped to see results from the troop increase by August, when more brigades could begin to withdraw. But Petraeus said this week that he thinks it will "need to be sustained, certainly for some time well beyond the summer."

As usual, there's a huge disconnect between what Bush is doing and what the Congress is talking about doing. While a case can be made that more troops are needed to achieve the military objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan, they're not going to help unless the Congress is on board. So far, it seems like Bush continues to have no interest in trying to make the case to leaders in Congress.

So much for the "[link|http://mediamatters.org/items/200701060007|Surge]"...

Cheers,
Scott.