Independent Iraqi battalions DROP from 10 to 6 in just two months [View All]

[Bluebear]

WASHINGTON - The number of Iraqi army battalions capable of fighting without American military help has dropped from 10 to six battalions in just two months, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday.

"The numbers I saw were six (Iraqi) battalions operating independently and another almost 100 that are operating in the lead" with American troops providing a potent backup force, Pace told a Pentagon news conference. Six Iraqi battalions is the rough equivalent of 3,000 to 3,600 troops.

On May 9, Pace had said there were 10 battalions -- about 5,000 to 6,000 troops -- operating without American military assistance and another 88 battalions operating alongside Americans but in the lead position.

The decline in independent battalions -- those at the highest state of readiness to take on enemy insurgents and militias -- is yet another indication that the training of Iraqi forces proceeds in fits and starts and is one of the most difficult hurdles President George W. Bush faces in extricating U.S. forces from Iraq.

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