Rebuilding Teams Would Swell Under Bush’s New Iraq Plan

The NYT published an article giving a few 'hints' on what the civilian reconstruction component of the Iraqi surge will in fact look like. Beyond the very pragmatic comments on how difficult it will be to expand this civilian presence ten-fold, given the difficulties to staff the already very lean PRT structures, the article admits some ambiguity on the role these civilians will have:

"A summary at the beginning of the document indicates that beyond their purely civil duties, the teams will also be expected to support the counterinsurgency efforts by the United States military. There is no description of how that support would be carried out.

Nonmilitary duties relegated to the teams, according to the document, would be to promote moderate political groups and to further reconciliation in Iraqi society."