US President George W. Bush on Sunday called on Congress to provide financing for the Iraq war "with no strings attached." And he defended his decision, made formal this weekend, to send more than 8,000 more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan by saying they would be dedicated to training and support missions.
Referring to the increase of 21,500 troops that he announced in January, Bush said during a press briefing here, "Those combat troops are going to need some support, and that's what the American people are seeing in terms of Iraq -- the support troops that are necessary to help the reinforcements do their job."
Bush added that the additional troops he had decided to send to Afghanistan would primarily be "part of a training and embedding mission" aimed at speeding the readiness of Afghan troops and supporting an increase in the number of national police officers.
The president's aides announced this weekend that Bush had formally approved the deployment of 4,700 more troops to Iraq -- on top of the 21,500 troops being sent as part of his new war plan -- and 3,500 to Afghanistan. The Pentagon had already indicated that it would need to send additional troops to Iraq to support the increases Bush announced in January. But the specific increase for Afghanistan had not been previously mentioned.
Bush's aides announced the increases after the president sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting US$3.2 billion in emergency funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan missions.
Bush is awaiting approval of a $100 billion emergency spending bill for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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