The United States plans to expand the Iraqi military
and security forces to 200,000 by October 2005.
Officials said the U.S.-led coalition in cooperation with the Iraqi
Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry has accelerated recruitment and
training in 2005. They said that within a year Iraqi troops would be ready
to conduct independent missions against Sunni insurgents, Middle East Newsline reported.
"The Iraqi security forces are getting better every day," Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "There are more of them, and they're better
equipped and better trained."
[On Tuesday, the U.S. military and Iraqi forces launched the third major
operation in western Iraq over the last month. The latest operation began as
a Shi'ite parliamentarian was killed in a suicide car bombing in Baghdad.]
Officials said Iraq now has 168,500 members in its military and security
forces. More than 70,000 serve in the military and the rest are in the
police, border guards, special commando battalions and counter-terrorist
units. Another 50,000 to 70,000 Iraqis serve as site-protection personnel.
By October 2005, Iraq was expected to have 200,000 soldiers and security
officers. Officials said they would be used to maintain order during the
constitutional referendum and national elections.
"They're never going to be as good as [the] American military," Rumsfeld
said in a television interview on June 26. "You can't look at it that way.
You have to say, 'What are you trying to achieve with what types of units?
And where are they in their progress?' And the answer is they're
progressing every week, every month, to a greater degree of sophistication."
A key obstacle, Rumsfeld said, was the indigenous political and
administrative support network of Iraqi security forces. He said the chain
of command as well as supervision from the Defense Ministry and Interior
Ministry remain weak.
"The biggest problems are [that] the ministries [of defense and
interior] are weak," Rumsfeld said. "The chains of command [and] the
linkages between the police and the military forces -- they have to work
together if they're going to repress this insurgency. Most people are
focusing on the metrics, the hard numbers. But I would say the soft
things -- the ministries, the chains of command -- are considerably more
important."
Rumsfeld said he expects an increase in violence with the approach of a
constitutional referendum and elections for a permanent government. Iraqis
are scheduled to vote on the constitution by Oct. 15 and elect a government
under that constitution by Dec. 15.
Officials have focused on the successes of Iraqi military and security
forces in Baghdad amid an offensive by the Al Qaida network led by Abu
Mussib Al Zarqawi. On Monday, Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 2nd
Iraqi Army Brigade prevented a car bombing in central Baghdad. The Iraqi
car contained two 125 mm rounds and a propane tank under the hood.
"Iraqi security forces are becoming more independent and more confident
in their own capabilities," Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, a Task Force Baghdad
spokesman, said.
Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid said Iraqi troops would become
capable of fighting the insurgents without U.S. support. Abizaid said he
envisioned that within the first half of 2006 Iraqi forces would be ready to
assume the lead in counter-insurgency operations. Less than 10 percent of
Iraqi units were said to be capable of independent missions.
"What is most encouraging to me is that Iraqi commanders were confident,"
Abizaid said. "They knew their capabilities were increasing; they were
engaging more frequently and steadily in combat. They are not ready to stand
alone yet, but they will be."
Abizaid acknowledged that Al Zarqawi, despite his injury, remains
in command of the insurgency. He said the U.S. military was close to
finding him.
"I think we have a good idea," Abizaid said. "We know what we're doing
in our efforts how to get him. But I want to also stress that it's not about
one man. It's about his network. His network exists inside Iraq. It's
connected to Al Qaida. It's got facilitation nodes in Syria. It brings
foreign fighters in from Saudi Arabia and from North Africa."