WASHINGTON — Both Democrat and Republican leaders in Congress agree on the urgent need to enhance the
quality of trainers sent to Iraq.
"I would hope we could stand up their brigades, their battalions, and
that they would be effective," Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat and
designated to become the next chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, said. "And the way to do this is for us to train them better, to
have advisers that understand them."
House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter agreed.
Hunter, a Republican from California, said the Iraq Army has deployed 33
trained battalions in peaceful areas of the country. Duncan said these
battalions should instead serve in such places as the insurgency-ridden
Anbar and Baghdad provinces.
"Saddle those guys up, move them into the fight," Hunter said. "Nothing
trains a combat unit better than actually being in military operations."
In a television news program on Nov. 26, Skeleton said the U.S. military
has been sending whom he termed "the wrong types" of trainers for the Iraq
Army. He said the result has been poor performances by Iraqi military
and police units.
Officials said the Defense Department has been working with Central
Command to improve the level of trainers for the Iraq Army. They said the
trainers have been criticized for their inability to properly instruct Iraqi
officers and soldiers.
The Pentagon has come under criticism for minimizing training
difficulties amid an Iraqi attrition rate of 20 percent. Anthony Cordesman,
a former senior Pentagon official and senior fellow at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, has accused the Pentagon of releasing
misleading reports of the development of Iraqi military and police.
"U.S. official reporting is so misleading that there is no way to
determine just how serious the problem is and what resources will be
required," a report authored by Cordesman said. "No administration official
has presented any plan to properly equip the Iraqi forces to stand on their
own or give them the necessary funding to phase out U.S. combat and air
support in 12 to 18 months."
[Ret.] Gen. Wayne Downing, former head of the U.S. Special Operations
Command, said the U.S. military rebuilt the Iraqi police according to the
model that operated under the Saddam Hussein regime. Downing said the Iraqi
police remain corrupt.
"We reconstituted the Iraqi police pretty much in their old image,"
Downing said. "They are corrupt, they are feared by the people, and we
recognize this."
Analysts warned that the United States does not have much time to build
and equip Iraq's security forces. They cited declining morale, rising
sectarian strife and domestic pressure for a U.S. withdrawal.
"We've got to get the Iraqi army and police better equipped, better
trained, and into the fight," [Ret.] Gen. Barry McCaffrey said. "And I think
we've got 24 months."
