Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

     WASHINGTON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon is considering extending the tours of duty for every active duty soldier in Iraq,ABC News reported Wednesday.

    Under the proposal, deployments for active duty soldiers will be extended from the current 12 months to 15 months, according to the report.

    Senior Pentagon officials said that the idea has already been presented to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a decision is expected as early as this week.

    Some military analysts expressed deep concern for the plan.

    "These soldiers have paid the price for this policy for four years. Now they are being given an additional burden to bear, and it will be a cause for concern for the soldiers and even more so for the families," said retired Gen. William Nash.

    The stress on the Army has been compounded by the surge of additional forces the president announced in January, a surge Iraq commander David Petreaus wants to extend.

    Pentagon officials said extending the "surge" is simply impossible to do without either extending the tours of those troops already there, or dramatically cutting the time soldiers spend back home.

    This plan will be unwelcome news to soldiers who have already had two and sometimes three deployments in Iraq.

    Meanwhile, the White House and Congress are still fighting over supplemental funding for the war effort.

Related:

U.S. suffers higher casualties in Iraq since "surge" begins

     WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Two months into the troop "surge" in Iraq, the U.S. military is suffering an increase in battlefield deaths, the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday.

     Pentagon officials was quoted as saying that the reason is two-fold.

     The first reason is that U.S. units have intensified their efforts to defeat the insurgents.

U.S. to deploy 12,000 National Guard troops to Iraq

     WASHINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- More than 12,000 National Guard troops will begin deployment to Iraq in December, the Pentagon announced Monday.

    It is the latest deployment in what has become the largest National Guard mobilization of its kind since the Vietnam era, according to NPR radio.

    Since 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, nearly a quarter-million National Guard troops across the country have been mobilized.  Full story