The New York Times (July 21): Iraqis Not Ready to Fight Rebels Alone

[Jack Rabbit]

From The New York Times
Dated Thursday July 21

Iraqis Not Ready to Fight Rebels on Their Own, U.S. Says
By Eric Schmidt

Washington, July 20 - About half of Iraq's new police battalions are still being established and cannot conduct operations, while the other half of the police units and two-thirds of the new army battalions are only "partially capable" of carrying out counterinsurgency missions, and only with American help, according to a newly declassified Pentagon assessment.

Only "a small number" of Iraqi security forces are capable of fighting the insurgency without American assistance, while about one-third of the army is capable of "planning, executing and sustaining counterinsurgency operations" with allied support, the analysis said.

The assessment, which has not been publicly released, is the most precise analysis of the Iraqis' readiness levels that the military has provided. Bush administration officials have repeatedly said the 160,000 American-led allied troops cannot begin to withdraw until Iraqi troops are ready to take over security.

The assessment is described in a brief written response that Gen. Peter Pace, the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided last week to the Senate Armed Services Committee. It was provided to The Times by a Senate staff aide. At General Pace's confirmation hearing on June 29, Republicans and Democrats directed him to provide an unclassified accounting of the Iraqis' abilities to allow a fuller public debate. The military had already provided classified assessments to lawmakers.

Read more.

It should be a legitmate question why the insurgents can organize a fighting force but the Iraqi government cannot.

[meti57b]

1. I might also ask, ...

doesn't our own army train recruits for something like 3 months and then consider them combat ready?

That of course doesn't include the basic backbone organization of the military, but it seems to me a bureaucracy is capable of establishing itself in mere minutes.

[bullimiami]

2. a more honest headline would be

Puppet government not yet strong enough to control Iraq

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Rumsfeld obfuscating (again)

"It's not for us to tell the other side, the enemy, the terrorists, that this Iraqi unit has this capability, and that Iraqi unit has this capability," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "The idea of discussing weaknesses, if you will, strengths and weaknesses of 'this unit has a poor chain of command,' or 'these forces are not as effective because their morale's down' - I mean, that would be mindless to put that kind of information out."

Level 1 units are able to plan, execute and sustain independent counterinsurgency operations. By late last month, American commanders said, only 3 of the 107 military and paramilitary battalions had achieved that standard. At the lower end, Level 4 units are just forming and cannot conduct operations. Units graded at levels in between need some form of allied support, often supplies, communications and intelligence.

Mr. Rumsfeld said such measurements were just part of the calculus in judging individual units or their parent organizations.

"One way is to look at it numerically," he said. "How many are there? How many have the right equipment? The other way to look at it is the softer things. How is the experience? Are they battle-hardened? How's the morale? What kind of noncommissioned officers and middle-level officers do they have? How's the chain of command functioning? What's the relationship between the Ministry of Defense forces and the Ministry of Interior forces?"

Another legitimate question -- although I'm sad to say it is legitimate -- is whether the Bush regime wants an independent, sovereign Iraq or one that it dependent on US troops to maintain order.