The U.S. Army is considering adding more combat units to the rotation plan to meet a top commander's decision to keep over 140,000 soldiers in the country until at least mid-2007, The Washington Times reported on Monday.
The US Army also is considering accelerating the deployments for some brigades in a bid to try to stop sectarian violence among Sunnis and Shi'ites in Baghdad, the newspaper reported. "It may accelerate the pace of deployments or it may mean looking at calling up additional units," a Pentagon official who asked not to be named told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Iraqi groups decided Sunday to consider amending the constitution and start debating legislation to create a federated nation, while the Iraqi prime minister appealed for an end to violence during Ramadan.
Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political leaders broke a two-week deadlock and agreed on a compromise that will allow parliament to take up Shiite-proposed draft legislation to allow creation of partly self-ruling regions. Sunnis have objected the federalism bill, fearing it will splinter the country and deny them a share of Iraq's oil.
But they agreed to a legislative debate after all parties accepted a Sunni demand that a parliamentary committee be established to study amending the constitution. The committee will be named Monday and the federalism bill will be read to 275-member parliament a day later.
