Word: iraqi
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Lieut. Colonel William Zemp is full of praise for the 700 Iraqi troops who have been helping bring peace to the countryside around Mahmudiya, a town 20 miles (30 km) south of Baghdad. As he leads his troops on patrol through a farming village, Zemp notes that less than six months ago, the area was prime insurgent territory and U.S. patrols routinely came under attack. On this April day, however, children poke their heads out of mud-brick doorways to wave, and two families even invite the troops to join in their modest midday meals. None of this would have...
...where are the Iraqi troops that Zemp was hoping to bring along on this 7 a.m. sweep of the village? Stopping by the Iraqi base on the way to the patrol, Zemp finds that most of the Iraqi troops have not yet awakened. Zemp doesn't seem surprised or especially perturbed. "The [Iraqi] army is very good at what they do," he explains. "They just have a problem with sleeping...
...months now, top U.S. military commanders have been trumpeting the growing strength of Iraq's 559,397-strong security forces, trained and armed by the U.S. military at a cost of $20.4 billion. Iraqi military competence is critical to U.S. plans to withdraw by July the last of five combat brigades sent to Iraq as part of General David Petraeus' "surge" strategy. But on the battlefield, the Iraqis are frequently found wanting and often have to be rescued by U.S. troops. A damning April 25 report by the Department of Defense's special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction says...
This bodes ill for Iraq's security environment, which has deteriorated sharply since the start of the year. Many of the gains of the surge have already been lost; suicide attacks are up, and the rate of Iraqi and U.S. casualties has climbed. American troops, stretched to the limit, need the Iraqis to do more of the heavy lifting...
That's not happening yet. The inadequacy of Iraqi forces has come under a harsh spotlight since March, when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive in the southern city of Basra against Shi'ite militias loyal to the rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The operation, named Saulat al-Forsan (Charge of the Knights), was an opportunity for the Iraqi troops to show just how far they have come as an independent force. But barely a day into the offensive, al-Maliki had to call for backup as his troops ran into resistance from the militias. British and American...