The U.S. military commanders said the pace of training and equipping of Iraqi
military and security forces has been hampered by a shortage of U.S.
manpower and funds. They said the military has asked the Defense Department
to order changes in the method of funding and in the responsibility for the
training of Iraqi troops.
So far, the U.S. military has been responsible for the formation and
training of an Iraqi military, police and Civil Defense Corps and border
guards, Middle East Newsline reported.
Officials said the aim is to deploy 200,000 during 2004.
"The Iraqi forces have gone from zero on May 1st up to over 100,000
today," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "And our plan calls for them
to go to something in excess of 200,000. So the total number of security
forces in the country has been going up steadily."
But the effort has been hampered by insufficient U.S. resources.
Officials acknowledge that ordered equipment has been delayed and U.S.
forces are overstretched to conduct both training and operations.
"I think our throughput is not quite as great as I would like, and that
really gets down to the fact that we have to conduct several different
missions in terms of our normal day-to-day missions as well as training,"
Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division,
said. "So, the one thing I would ask for is some assistance in conducting
this training; maybe get some civilian leadership, for example, in the
police Ñ have expertise in training police forces, and have them come over
and assist us."
Officials said the Coalition Provision Authority, responsible for the
reconstruction of Iraq, hopes the money for training and equipment will be
allocated in 2004 after Congress approves an $87 billion supplemental budget
for Iraq. The bill has raised questions, particularly by House and Senate
Democrats.
The U.S. Army has used different units to train each of the four Iraqi
security forces. The army's cavalry squadron has been training Iraqi border
guards. The army's military police has been training the Iraqi police. The
infantry has been traiing the civil defense corps and military.
The Iraqi security forces have failed to obtain much of their ordered
equipment. They include military and police vehicles, communications and
other systems.
"The funding is here," Odierno said. "I believe it's a matter of getting
it executed down to us so we can get the equipment to the police force. And
it's a matter of so they can become really more capable within the cities of
having cars with communications equipment in it. And so we're waiting to get
that allocation of money so we can go ahead and purchase that equipment."
