WASHINGTON — Despite intense efforts by the U.S. military, absenteeism in Iraq's
military and security forces remains high.
"There are gaps in our knowledge as to who is on duty on any given day,"
Rear Adm. William Sullivan, vice director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
said.
The Defense Department has reported the training and equipping of
145,000 Iraqi troops, Middle East Newsline reported. Officials said the Bush administration plans to train
and equip 271,000 members of the Iraqi military and police by July 2006.
But the Government Accountability Office has asserted that the Pentagon
figures were meaningless because of the high absentee rate among Iraqi
forces. A GAO report said the Iraqi Interior Ministry has been provided
false data on the number of officers in police stations around the country.
"Data on the status of Iraqi security forces is unreliable and provides
limited information on their capabilities," GAO senior investigator for
international affairs Joseph Christoff said. "Without reliable information,
Congress may find it difficult to judge how federal funds are achieving the
goal of transferring security responsibilities to the Iraqis."
Officials acknowledge that the high absentee rate calls into question
the reliability of Iraq's military and security units. They said
featherbedding remains rampant, and that the Iraqi Interior Ministry
continues to receive false reports of staffing levels in the police.
The Pentagon program was meant to ensure Iraqi responsibility for
security and the subsequent departure of most U.S.-led coalition troops by
2007. The administration has asked Congress for another $82 billion to
maintain the U.S. military presence in Iraq in 2005.
Officials said many of the officers in the Iraqi police fail to report
for duty. They said that despite efforts by the United States and the
Baghdad government, attendance requirements in the Iraqi military and police
remain different from those in the U.S. armed forces.
Testifying to the House Government Reform subcommittee on March 14,
Sullivan acknowledged that Pentagon figures on the number of trained Iraqi
troops do not attest to their capability. He said the U.S. military has been
developing a system for assessing the capabilities and readiness of the new
Iraqi military units. The Pentagon has reported 60,000 trained Iraqi army
troops and 80,000 trained police officers.
Christoff told the House subcommittee that the Iraqi military and
security forces continue to lack proper force structure, leadership and
capability to conduct independent operations. He said Iraqi commanders have
failed to re-evaluate security needs to confront the Sunni insurgency.
"Most police were trained and equipped to conduct law enforcement
functions in a peaceful environment," Christoff said. "They were not trained
to fight the insurgency."
