No Iraqi Battalions Can Fight on their Own
by James Buchanan
Believe it or not, there are precisely zero Iraqi battalions capable of fighting the rebels on their own. A recent news article reports “The number of Iraqi army battalions judged by their American trainers to be capable of fighting the insurgency without U.S. help has slipped from one to none since September, Pentagon officials said Friday… However, in the longer run, the Iraqi military will have to reach a level of full independence so it can take over the battle against the insurgency and allow the Bush administration to withdraw American troops from the country eventually. When Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last September that the number of Iraqi battalions capable of fighting independently of U.S. troops had dropped from three to one, the news triggered an uproar among Democrats arguing for an early exit from Iraq.”
Just last summer Bush was throwing around a figure of 100,000 Iraqi army recruits ready (or almost ready) to fight the rebels. The same article notes “The size of an Iraqi battalion varies according to its type but it usually numbers several hundred.” We can’t even form one group of several hundred men that is willing and competent to fight?!! This is a disaster. (more…)