From Raw Story:

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that it will rotate 20,000 into Iraq at the end of this year but denied the troops would extend President Bush’s troop “surge” through next spring, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reported Tuesday that a “worst case scenario” would stretch military ranks as troops leave for their 15-month rotations.

“They may have to reach down into the National Guard or Army reserve” to maintain the troop levels, Starr said.

Military commanders began to expect earlier this year that the surge would have to be extended into next year. In an article that appeared in the Washington Post in May, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who manages day-to-day operations in Iraq, said the surge needed to last “through the beginning of next year, for sure.” Odierno noted at the time that new regulations extending tours of duty to 15 months would allow for the surge to last through spring 2008.