200,000 ready Iraqi troops? Did we say 200,000?

[gratuitous]

Was it just a couple of days ago that the administration mouthpieces were touting 200,000 trained and battle-ready Iraqi troops? Why yes it was:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x503181

But that was Thursday, and now it's Saturday:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.security/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded
No Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support

Friday, February 24, 2006; Posted: 8:29 p.m. EST (01:29 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday.

The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military.

{snip}

The battalion, according to the Pentagon, was downgraded from "level one" to "level two" after a recent quarterly assessment of its capabilities.

"Level one" means the battalion is able to fight on its own; "level two" means it requires support from U.S. troops; and "level three" means it must fight alongside U.S. troops.

________________________

Okay, so maybe it's not 200,000 troops. Guess those training wheels will have to stay on Iraq for just a little while longer. And more people (troops, civilians and "insurgents") will die.

[FloridaPat]

1. I think that refers to the total trained over 3 years. They only have

700 to 800 who have not left. No way * is going to leave there so no way there is going to be real training. Now we're hearing that with the civil war coming, * might not be able to drawdown the troops for the election. So who really is behind bombing the mosques?

[Dunvegan]

2. This Iraqi blogger thinks the mosque bombing was a controlled demolition.

Don't know how :tinfoilhat:erry this is...but, here's his theory:

Baghdad Dweller blog

Who bombed the shrines?



The perfect controlled demolition.

Take a good look at the picture above because I will tell you what I see. I see a damaged dome caused by an explosion set very professionally that the two minarets from the both sides weren’t effected by the explosion.

Not even one single “gold plate” fall down from the minarets while the explosion was so heavy that caused the collapse of the dome. Tell me, Is this work of few terrorists who wants to finish the job as fast as possible?

The one who did this, entered the mosque comfortably carrying explosions, he had all the time to study the construction of the building and find the perfect angles to set the explosions in a way that only the dome will be destroyed.

This is a professional, controlled demolition and the bombs set by demolition experts.

[FloridaPat]

3. What's even more scary is there are a number of prophesies about

the tower. They mentioned them on TV yesterday. I will have to find them. They were not pretty. As for who did the bombing - anytime there is a problem and things get worse my first thought is - our government.

[genie_weenie]

4. professional?

Only the center of the dome is gone, the top is the weak part of any dome. There is an outward tensile component of stress in the sides of a dome. IMO, professionals would have attacked the sides causing the whole, structure to collapse. The picture shows only the weakest part was destroyed.

[Benbow]

5. Preparation for shrine destruction must have taken at least 12 hours

http://truth-about-iraqis.blogspot.com/

Construction Minister Jassem Mohammed Jaafar said Friday that the placing of the explosives (in the shrine) must have taken at least 12 hours.

“According to initial reports, the bombing was technically well conceived and could only have been carried out by specialists,” the minister told Iraqia state television.

Jaafar, who toured the devastated thousand-year-old shrine on Thursday a day after the bombing which brought down its golden dome, said “holes were dug into the mausoleum’s four main pillars and packed with explosives.”

“Then the charges were connected together and linked to another charge placed just under the dome. The wires were then linked to a detonator which was triggered at a distance,” the minister added.

To drill into the pillars would have taken at least four hours per pillar, he also estimated.

[genie_weenie]

6. I call bullshit

So, for 12 hours, CIA agents were inside the most holy of holiest shrines causing damage by drilling holes without someone raising a ruckus. When I was in Iraq we couldn't even drive in Najaf, near the Imam Ali Shrine without al-Sadr's forces emerging to start fighting.

Americans can't just walk into Mosques.

And if he toured the wreckage, why the reference to the "according to initial reports"? Shouldn't he as Construction Minister be able to produce an engineering diagram and reconstruct what occurred?

[Benbow]

7. Mercenaries, paid by CIA - use your brain n/t

[genie_weenie]

8. "use your brain" Okay I'll use my brain

Who are these mercenaries?

Are they Iraqis or are they foreigners? Where did they get their training? From a 6 hour CIA explosives course?

If they are Iraqis what tribe are they from? How did we convince them to profane a shrine? How did we recruit them? What about their families?

If they aren't Iraqis are they Kurds, Turks, Armenians, American Muslims of middle eastern descent... Jews?

The Iraqis are very tribal, if they are foreigners have they been hanging around Samarra for a few weeks, to understand the situation on the ground? Where we they holding up in an abandoned building? What did they eat, where did they clean themselves, shave, and deal with biological necessities? Or did they just roll out of an american base followed by a HMMWV convoy and disembark a few hundred meters form the Shrine?

Or did they just come in for the mission? Did they have detailed schematics of the construction and not just satellite images, they would need detailed blueprints in order to have it be "so professional" as I've heard people claim on DU?

How were they infiltrated into the city? How did they extricate themselves?

Do they speak Arabic? Is it the mercs first language or did they learn it via scholastic method? If they do, was their accent good, Iraqis can tell were you are from by accent.

Did they sign up for this mission knowing they were going to be disavowed? If not, why aren't they spilling their guts?

How did they remain in the Shrine for 12 hours without anyone noticing? Who was guarding the Shrine? Where were they for hours and hours?

What was the explosive? C-4 is American (and easily identifiable) and there isn't an abundance of it over there, did they use PE-4, something else? How was it detonated?

I don't feel like asking more questions on this thread...