30,000 troops heading to Iraq in 2009

The Pentagon is preparing to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq early next year in a move that would allow the US to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through 2009, The Associated Press has learned.
The deployments would replace troops currently there. But the decisions could change depending on whether Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, decides in the fall to further reduce troop levels in Iraq.
Several officials familiar with the deployments spoke on condition of anonymity because the orders have not yet been made public.
According to the officials, three active-duty Army brigade combat teams, one Army National Guard brigade and two Marine regimental combat teams are being notified that they are being sent to Iraq in early 2009. Officials would not release the specific units involved because the soldiers and Marines and their families have not all been told.
The Guard unit, however, is the 56th Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, from the Pennsylvania National Guard. Members of that unit a large brigade with heavily armoured Stryker vehicles were told last October that they should be prepared to deploy to Iraq early in 2009. The order this week is the formal notice that includes a more specific time frame.