Several Iraqi battalions refused orders to go to Baghdad and went AWOL

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/22/news/assess.php

News Analysis: U.S. forces in Iraq said to lack fallback

By Michael R. Gordon The New York Times

Published: October 22, 2006


BAGHDAD After three years of trying to thwart a potent insurgency and tamp down the deadly violence in Iraq, the American military is playing its last hand: The Baghdad Security Plan.

The plan will be tweaked, adjusted and modified in the weeks ahead, as American commanders attempt to reverse the dismaying increase in murders, drive-by shootings and bombings.

But military commanders here see no plausible alternative to their bedrock strategy of clearing violence-ridden neighborhoods of militias, insurgents and arms caches, holding them with Iraqi and American security forces and winning over the population and generating jobs with reconstruction projects, primarily programs underwritten by the Iraq government. There is no winning fall-back plan that the generals are holding in their hip pockets. This is it.

The Iraqi capital is, as the generals like to say, the center of gravity for the larger American mission in Iraq. The generals' assessment is that if Baghdad is overwhelmed by sectarian strife, the cause of fostering a more stable Iraq will be lost. Conversely, if Baghdad can be improved, the effects will eventually be felt elsewhere in Iraq - or so the American calculation holds. In invading Iraq, American forces started from outside the country and fought their way in. The current strategy is essentially to work from the inside out.

"As Baghdad goes, so goes Iraq," said Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the corps commander who oversees American forces throughout Iraq. snip


So far, the plan has been short on resources, as well as results. The Iraqi Defense Ministry has supplied only two of the six Iraqi Army battalions that Thurman has requested. It is not just a question of numbers. Some in the U.S. military believe that the Iraqi Army may be more effective than the police and more trusted by local citizens. Yet several Iraqi battalions have gone AWOL rather than follow the orders to go to Baghdad, according to American military officials. In the case of these divisions, summoning them to the Iraqi capital was tantamount to demobilizing the units.

[noamnety]

1. What's wrong with those troops?

Why won't they assist us in their own occupation?

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I can picture Bush asking himself that question, with a puzzled look on his face.

[rurallib]

2. 'when they stand up we'll stand down'?

Seems like Iraqis stand up they run, which is probably a smart thing for them to do.
What's the army size there? I've heard estimates from 1 to 350,000. Somewhere in that ballpark?

[Earth_First]

3. Does this mean that Rumsfield will stand with Pace this week...

and again champion the number of Iraqi security forces we've trained? AGAIN with different numbers and projections which will certainly prove to be false and backtracked in a near future press conference?

[wholetruth00]

4. ...taking arms and uniforms and equipment as they left

That's my take on what is happening and why insurgents are getting stronger.

[NNN0LHI]

5. And I bet we trained them well as snipers and such too n/t

[KharmaTrain]

6. AWOL Right Into Al Sadr's Army

The ineptness of this regime and it's "military intelligence" is astounding. Watching last week's Frontline recounts how badly Bremer and von Rumsfeldt screwed up the first days of the occupation by disbanding Saddam's army and letting the country loot itself silly...including tons of weapons and munitions that started showing up at IEDs and car-bombs. Heckuva job there, boooshie.

This seems similar to what happened in Palestine, where the PA "police" were issued weapons and training to watch over their people and in the end turned their guns on the Israelis. Iraq is awash in weapons, anger and our troops are sitting in the middle of this von Rumsfeldt induced madness.

These troops didn't go AWOL...being an Iraqi "national" security officer is like signing a death warrant. You have two major groups and dozens of other sub-groups who will gun you or your family down and the future stain of being a "collaborator". Instead, they came for dinner and didn't stay for the pie...they took the training and weapons and now are waiting for the next Hummer without armor plating...

The only small piece of savings grace is that future war planners will look at this occupation and see how NOT to do it.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. AWOL like the Great White Father in Washington once went...

Maybe they wanna' be pResident too.

[happydreams]

8. Last night on CBS 60 minutes: Money for equipment stolen.

about a $billion meant to supply the Iraqi Army was stolen or spent on shoddy or the wrong equipment.

:eyes: