‘Ghost troops’ still help fill Iraq’s lacking ranks

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

More than three years and $15 billion into the U.S. effort to rebuild Iraqi forces, “ghost soldiers” still help fill Iraq’s army ranks and no one knows how many trained policemen remain on the job, the Pentagon and U.S. government investigators report.

The Government Accountability Office says the most serious problems lie in the logistics — supplies, maintenance, transport — of Iraqi security forces. One example: The police have more than 1,000 U.S.-made trucks whose computerized systems are beyond the skills of the Iraqi mechanics who repair them.

<snip>

In its latest quarterly Iraq report, the Pentagon said 328,700 Iraqis have been trained for the security forces, including 136,400 soldiers — more than double the numbers of two years ago. But it added in the next sentence that the “actual number of present-for-duty soldiers is about one-half to two-thirds of the total due to scheduled leave, absence without leave, and attrition.”

<snip>

On the police side, under the Interior Ministry, the Americans don’t know “what percentage of the 180,000 police thought to be on the payroll are coalition trained and equipped,” Christoff testified.





Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17708450/

[babylonsister]

1. "Ghost troops" live on paper, and are non-existent. What propagandized

bullshit we're being fed! I'm so tired of the 'spin' every which way you look.

[Thor_MN]

2. Could they maybe report on the "Core" forces, excluding "ghost troops" due to their volatility?

Oh wait, they want inflation to be low and troop forces high... Nevermind.

[saigon68]

3. They did this in Nam

Whole units,of Ghost troops were on the books and their salaries were paid to the colonel in charge to distribute to the "ghosts". Most of the money ended up in Switzerland

[heatstreak]

4. K&R