Word: iraqi
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...Pentagon adage holds that while figures don't lie, liars can figure. That's apt when it comes to measuring the progress of the Iraqi security forces. The GAO cites data showing that only 10% of Iraqi army battalions have reached full operational readiness. In a Pentagon response contained within the GAO report, the Defense Department said a better measure was the share of Iraqi units "in the lead" in combined operations, which it said is 70%. But that "in the lead" phrasing, defense officials concede, is elastic enough to include borderline battalions. There are other shortcomings when it comes...
...Captain Rahman's story captures, in microcosm, the complex religious and political conflicts that continue to roil the Iraqi security forces even as the country's security situation improves - and the challenges facing the U.S. military in working with them. A former army officer, Rahman joined the new police service after Baghdad fell to coalition forces in 2003. Promoted to captain 11 months ago, he arrived in Haswah with a mandate to retake the city from the Mahdi Army militia of the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "Every day, the Mahdi Army would kill between...
...Despite the fact that Haswah is safer now than it has been in years, Rahman was told a few weeks ago that he would be relieved of his command. Colonel Ali Zahawi Press Al-Sultani, district commander of the Iraqi Police, argued to TIME that Captain Rahman had not won over the townspeople - even though the reason for Colonel Ali's presence at the Haswah station on this day is to meet with a 100-strong delegation of locals protesting Captain Rahman's firing. The colonel rejects Rahman's claim that he has been fired for political reasons. "There have...
...forces working in the area, the saga at the police station underscores the impenetrable nature of Iraqi factionalism. "I am certain that Captain Rahman's zeal for protecting the population of Haswah has attracted attention from political folks displeased with what he's accomplished," says Lieutenant Colonel Michael Getchell. "But I have no way of corroborating that politics were involved to the degree and in the way Rahman is alleging. What I do know, is that he now has a lot of pressure coming down on him, and my own request to the provincial police chief to let him stay...
...Getchell tried to get Captain Rahman to consider taking command of a police station, or even a patrol job, in a less populated area along the highway. But Captain Rahman, now convinced he will be killed if he remains in law enforcement, declined the offer. Rahman notes that an Iraqi police general who mentored him and defended him from political pressure was killed by an explosive device last December after resisting a transfer order. "Without the help of coalition forces," Rahman says, "I will be dead soon. If they don't protect me, nobody else...