One of the largest problems facing the United States as we try to develop a workable and logical plan for withdrawing from Iraq is the gap between the American troops currently responsible for maintaining stability and security in the country and their Iraqi counterparts. The gulf between US service members and the Iraqi army and police has nothing to do with character or resolve. In the year since the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s brutal dictatorship, Iraqi men and women have come forward to join the newly reconstructed Iraqi Army and police force at the peril of their own lives. Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been targeted by insurgents who have a special hatred for Iraqis who are perceived to be working with the United States. For all of the Americans and coalition fighters who have lost their lives, there are scores more Iraqis who have been killed for simply trying to end the violence in their country.
No, the issue of a gap between American troops and Iraqis soldiers has nothing to do with courage or character. The problem is one of training. Many of the new Iraqi soldiers and police officers are new to the service. The majority must be trained from the ground up. They do not have the prior experience needed to be immediately at the same level of readiness as the Americans currently patrolling the country. Training is a time consuming process and one we must commit to making if we are to leave these troops adequately prepared to defend the country.
In addition to a training gap, there are also logistical problems involved in the turnover of responsibility. The Iraqi Army and police force have inherited a heterogeneous collection of supplies. The wide variety of vehicles and supplies leads to a lack of the skills required to maintain their wide variety of vehicles and weapons. This combination of confusing supply and lack of training of each specific item is compounded by the significant percentage of personnel who are illiterate. While the United States has been incredibly generous in supplying the Iraqi forces with needed equipment, much of it will go to waste if those receiving the equipment are ill prepared to use it.
The thousand of Iraqis who have volunteered to put themselves in danger to help rebuild their county shows that there is hope for he future of Iraq. But, the issue of transferring security responsibilities of Iraqi forces will continue to be a problem until we are able to develop a reasonable plan for ensuring they receive the training they need to hold their own against the insurgents.
General Blog Uncategorized
With consumer price inflation up 50% in Iraq in 2006, 30-60% unemployment when curfews are not in effect (curfews are frequently in effect and if you can’t go to work you don’t get paid - only the army are exempt as they go to work during curfews), three quarters of a million people displaced, nearly two million people, mainly women or children, in refugee camps in Syria and Jordan and with 12,000 fewer doctors than before the invasion, it’s no wonder thousands of Iraqis have volunteered to join the army. It’s not like there’s much left for them at home.
Halliburton has had 1.4 billion dollars in charges to the Pentagon rejected on the grounds that they are Unreasonable and Unsupported, according to February 2007 congressional hearings, over 10 billion dollars has been mismanaged and wasted in Iraq since the “end of the war”. 9 and a half billion dollars of US taxpayers’ money has been “lost” or is “unnaccounted for”. That makes over 20 billion dollars which I’m sure would have been better spent investing in the future of the people in Iraq rather than filling the pockets of fat people both in Iraq and Washington and I won’t even go into trying to explain away the 505 billion dollars of US taxpayers’ funds that have so far been wasted on shamefully, ineptly and embarrassingly losing this illegal and immoral war in Iraq, a war directed and funded by the US administration.
To say that the Iraqi army is ill-prepared in comparison to the American army is an understatement and goes without saying. Given the disasterous effect that the American army has had in Iraq, I don’t think this bodes well for the country’s future. Fortunately, on a global scale and in comparison to other states in the region, in South East Asia, Central and South America and Africa, Iraq was a comparatively peaceful country prior to the American invasion so with any luck a lot of the violence will end when these drastically underprepared and ill-informed troops leave the region and go home.
I sympathise with them and their families but no more so than anyone else who has been a victim of this war.