Bush has approved an additional 4,400 additional troops on top of the 21,500 “surge” which Americans are overwhelmingly against. On Thursday we reported that an additional 2,400 soldiers were approved to police Iraqi detainees, which are included in the 4,400 figure. This latest approval brings Bush’s “surge” of 20,000 troops up to 25,900 troops. Before the escalation, 140,000 troops were already in Iraq. To carry out Bush’s plan, US military commanders say they’d need 30,000 additional soldiers.

Bush sent House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, a letter revising a $100 billion request for funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to take account of the $3 billion needed for the extra troops.”

This revised request would better align resources based on the assessment of military commanders to achieve the goal of establishing Iraq and Afghanistan as democratic and secure nations that are free of terrorism,” Bush said in his letter.

He signed it on Friday night and released it on Saturday while on a Latin America tour.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders of Congress have already raised questions about the $100 billion request and the 21,500-troop buildup.

Pelosi, in a statement, complained about Bush’s vow to veto a proposal by some Democrats to withdraw all American combat troops from Iraq by mid-2008.

“With his veto threat, the president offers only an open-ended commitment to a war without end that dangerously ignores the repeated warnings of military leaders … that the conflict cannot be resolved militarily,” she said.

source
h/t Truthdig