500 U.S. ARMY COMBAT ENGINEERS SHIPPED FROM IRAQ TO AFGHANISTAN

US Army combat engineers in Iraq transfer to Afghanistan

http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Afghanistan/10306390.html

Baghdad: Only in Iraq a few weeks, nearly 500 US Army combat engineers who specialise in clearing roads of explosives have learned they are being shipped off to southern Afghanistan, one of the clearest signs of America's shifting wartime priorities.

The transfer, which moved into its final stages Monday, is the largest movement so far of personnel and equipment from Iraq as President Barack Obama puts the focus on the fight in the Taliban heartland.

It's now clear some of the troops and firepower will flow directly from Iraq, where the Pentagon plans to gradually draw down its more than 132,000 personnel before the withdrawal of all combat forces by September 2010.

Obama has ordered 17,000 more US soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan.

(Editorial Comment: This blogger was a U.S. Army Combat Engineer during the Korean War)