Iraq has budget issues to resolve before asking, but it seems like they will ask and maybe the number will be as high as 5,000:
The Obama administration is considering 3,000 to 5,000 troops for an Iraqi training mission, according to officials in Washington familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Al-Shahristani said no specific range of numbers for the training mission has been discussed. One Iraqi lawmaker close to al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Baghdad may ask only for about 2,500 forces — a level that likely would be accepted by his war-weary public.
But it might be less than even the inadequate 3,000 figure tossed around. Let's hope reason prevails. Add 2,000 more to my footprint and you could add support and Air Force trainers inside Iraq and maybe more special forces.
We are so far from the days when I figured what we have right now (45,000 and 6 brigades) would be an appropriate footprint for many more years to come before we could risk drawing down more.
