LOOKS AS IF THEY FINALLY MADE UP THEIR MINDS

A top US military commander has requested the equivalent of two mobile combat brigades to help the campaign to put down Iraqi insurgents.

General John Abizaid, the head of Central Command, did not say where the new troops would come from or whether it would add to the number of troops in Iraq, though experts said it could require up to 10,000 extra forces.

General Abizaid said from Baghdad that the return of some troops from Iraq to the United States would almost certainly be delayed.

The General has made a request to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to the Defence Department in Washington for the combat brigades.

"In terms of capability, what I have asked for is essentially to have a strong mobile combat arms capability," General Abizaid said.