After private talks with world leaders, including U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Bush decided to call for an additional 7,000 or more troops to be placed under U.N. command, along with the 7,000 African Union troops already there, because such an expansion would be the quickest way to intervene in the bloody conflict, the officials said.
Bush brushed aside the resistance of some senior policymakers and sided with White House adviser Michael J. Gerson and others who have been lobbying for more assistance to Darfur.
But many details of the policy shift need to be worked out, including how many U.S. troops would be part of the beefed-up international peacekeeping effort.
Bush this week also proposed $500 million for Darfur as part of a larger special budget request to Congress.
[From an article by Jim VandeHei and Colum Lynch, Washington Post]
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