Baghdad, Iraq — A brigade of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, part of the 21,500 troop buildup ordered by President Bush, has arrived in Baghdad and will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence by the start of next month, the U.S. military said today.
The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne has 3,200 soldiers who will "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said.
Four more brigades were expected to be deployed to Iraq between now and May as part of Bush's plan to back Iraqi forces in a third attempt in less than a year to clamp off the raging sectarian warfare that has shattered the Iraqi capital.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to put a roughly equal number of Iraqi troops on the streets.
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