Details of Bush’s plan for Iraq war

U.S. TROOP INCREASE

17,500 additional U.S. combat troops, the equivalent of five combat brigades, to Baghdad. The first brigade to arrive Jan. 15; the next on Feb. 15; the remainder in separate waves every 30 days.

4,000 more Marines, in two waves, to Anbar province, a base for the mostly Sunni insurgency and foreign al-Qaida fighters.

President Bush’s upcoming supplemental budget request will include $5.6 billion to pay for his new commitment of troops.

Expand embedding of U.S. advisers into Iraqi security forces.

ECONOMIC AID

$414 million to double the number of U.S. civilian workers who help coordinate local reconstruction projects. These State Department-led units, dubbed Provincial Reconstruction Teams, are to focus on projects both inside and outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government. Some will be merged into combat brigades.

$400 million in quick-response funds for the teams to do local reconstruction and rebuilding projects.

$350 million more for the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, set up in 2003 to give field commanders money to solve local problems that quickly improve the lives of Iraqis.

REGIONAL DIPLOMACY

Do not engage in talks with Iran and Syria about Iraq, but intensify U.S. efforts to counter Iranian and Syrian influence in Iraq.

Urge Arab states to support the Iraqi government.

Help manage relations between Iraq and Turkey.

Increase U.S. military presense in the region and strengthen defense ties with partner states.

Keep the United Nations active in Iraq, particularly to support elections and constitutional review.

IRAQI COMMITMENTS

Allocate $10 billion to assist in reconstruction efforts.

Deliver three brigades for Baghdad: the first on Feb. 1, then two more on Feb. 15.

Crack down on insurgents and give U.S. and Iraqi troops the authority to pursue all extremists, regardless of sect or religion.

Reform Cabinet to provide equal government services to all regions and sects.

BENCHMARKS

Finalize an oil law that will share the profits of Iraq’s resources among various ethnic sects and regions in a way that unites the country.

Ease the policy of “de-Baathification,” which purged ex-members of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led Baathist rule from the top layers of government institutions.

Hold provincial elections to bring Sunnis back into the political process at local level.

Increase the transfer of security to Iraqi security forces by the end of the year.

The Associated Press