... Third rotation into Iraq begins in September.

Meanwhile, the third major rotation of U.S. troops into Iraq--known as Operation Iraqi Freedom III--will be stretched out over six months, beginning in September 2004. The second rotation, OIF II, took four months, but this time around, the Defense Department decided to draw it out to ease the stress on the transportation systems and maintain "better continuity on the ground," said a senior defense official. The number of troops will stay between 135,000-138,000. "We'll do it from roughly September until February or March of 2005, over a period of six or seven months," he said. "It is more manageable from the transportation point of view."