July 21, 2005
Bitter Vindication, Round II
I could have told you this (and did), but it's always comforting to hear it from the source, too:
About half of Iraq's new police battalions are still being established and cannot conduct operations, while the other half of the police units and two-thirds of the new army battalions are only "partially capable" of carrying out counterinsurgency missions, and only with American help, according to a newly declassified Pentagon assessment.Only "a small number" of Iraqi security forces are capable of fighting the insurgency without American assistance, while about one-third of the army is capable of "planning, executing and sustaining counterinsurgency operations" with allied support, the analysis said.
How many is "a small number?"
Level 1 units are able to plan, execute and sustain independent counterinsurgency operations. By late last month, American commanders said, only 3 of the 107 military and paramilitary battalions had achieved that standard. At the lower end, Level 4 units are just forming and cannot conduct operations. Units graded at levels in between need some form of allied support, often supplies, communications and intelligence.
So, just under 3%. After two full years of training Iraqi troops. Way to go, guys. At this pace, it'll only be another 68 years before we've got those Iraqi units trained and we can go home. Hooah!
Posted by ben at July 21, 2005 07:18 AM