Serious problems with training Iraqi forces-will we EVER get out of there?

[babylonsister]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17359729.htm

Serious problems continue to plague training of Iraqi forces
By Renee Schoof
McClatchy Newspapers

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"Iraq is an important part of our future," Dempsey said, "and it may be that we have to sacrifice there for some time in order to achieve our objectives, unless the objectives change - and that's not a military decision. That's a political decision."

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that Democrats would reoffer their proposals on Iraq in two weeks as amendments to the defense authorization bill. They include a timeline for withdrawal; standards for rest and training of service men and women deployed to Iraq; a proposal to limit the American mission to fighting terrorists, training Iraqis and protecting Americans; and a re-examination of the 2002 war authorization.

Dempsey also testified that:

-U.S. forces are close to having a database that will make it possible to determine whether Iraqis captured after attacking U.S. forces were once U.S.-trained. But Iraqis control military reporting, and some Iraqis are resisting the database.

-U.S. trainers regularly complain that Iraqis had removed some good officers and promoted bad ones. Some Iraqi explanations were reasonable, others "insidious." Some Iraqi leaders put loyalty to the Shiite-dominated central government above all else, especially in intelligence and operations.

-Some Sunnis in Anbar province have turned away from al Qaida and started to cooperate with Americans. "What we've got to do, quite simply, is we've got to find a way to harness the power of these local initiatives, but tie it back to the center."

-Iraq will not have an air force able to protect its air space for five years.

-The country also lacks senior military officers.

-Iraq's security forces will need to grow to take over from Americans. Iraq plans to add 45,000 men this year. Annual losses are 15 percent to 18 percent in the army and 20 percent to 22 percent in the police forces.

-Corruption is common in local police forces throughout the region. In Iraq, local police now take the lead in providing security only in ethnically homogenous areas - the Kurdish north and the Shiite south. Elsewhere, they probably won't patrol effectively until Iraq settles its political problems and reduces the violence.

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