U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to announce Wednesday night that he will send some 21, 500 additional American soldiers to Iraq, as part of his new Iraq plan, White House officials said Wednesday.

Of the proposed additional troops, 4,000 would be deployed to the western Anbar province, and 17,500 to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, to step up security and held stem sectarian violence in the two areas. The first wave of troops could arrive in five days.

As part of the plan, the Iraqi government would deploy additional troops in Baghdad, with the first bridged to be put in place on Feb. 1.

There are currently about 132,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and more than 3,000 American military personnel have been killed in the war since it was started in March 2003.

The president is also expected to admit it was a mistake that not enough forces were sent to fight in Iraq in the past.

Bush would call for 5.6 billion U.S. dollars to fund the troop increase, and an additional 1.2 billion dollars in new spending to finance rebuilding and employment programs in Iraq, as an effort to discourage Iraqis from joining the insurgency.

Democratic leaders in Congress have expressed opposition to the idea of sending more troops to Iraq, and have planned to hold a series of hearings on Iraq beginning this week.

Source: Xinhua