Bush approves 4,400 more troops for Iraq

MONTEVIDEO, March 10 (Reuters) President George W Bush has approved adding 4,400 more US troops to a force buildup already ordered to try to bring security to Iraq, the White House said today.

Bush formally requested about 3.2 billion dollars to pay for the additional deployment, even as he and Democratic lawmakers battle over his Iraq strategy.

In January, Bush said he would deploy 21,500 more US troops to Iraq to try to stabilize Baghdad and restive Anbar province.

The new US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has since said more troops will be needed in support of that troop buildup.

Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the extra troops would include up to 2,400 military police to handle an anticipated increase in Iraqi detainees.

In addition, about 2,000 more combat support troops will be needed to bolster the 21,500. Also, 129 temporary Defense Department positions are needed to help in provincial Iraqi reconstruction.

Bush sent House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, a letter revising a 100 billion dollars request for funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to take account of the 3 billion dollar 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 last night and released it on today while on a Latin America tour.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders of Congress have already raised questions about the 100 billion dollars 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.

Johndroe said the overall 100 billion dollars budget request has not changed.

He said about 3 billion dollar in lower-priority items will be subtracted from the original proposal made in February to offset the new request.

US military commanders in Iraq have said in recent days that the number of additional US troops needed to carry out Bush's security plan for Iraq could approach 30,000, taking into account units needed to support the 21,500 extra combat troops. The United States now has some 1,40,000 troops in the country.

''This formalizes the request that people have been talking about over the last few days,'' Johndroe said.

Reuters DKS VP0335