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U.S. Army memo: Iraqis have sharply reduced cooperation with U.S.

Friday, July 31, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

WASHINGTON — Iraq's military and security forces, demonstrating increasing enmity, have sharply reduced cooperation with the United States.

A memorandum by a senior U.S. Army officer said Iraqi military and police commanders have limited contact and cooperation with the U.S. military in Iraq and could soon turn on their American trainers and mentors. The officer, Col. Timothy Reese, chief of operations in Baghdad, said the reduction in Iraqi cooperation was first detected in 2009 and intensified over the last few weeks.

"Since the signing of the 2009 Security Agreement, we are guests in Iraq, and after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose," the memorandum, titled "It's Time for the U.S. to Declare Victory and Go Home," said. "The potential for Iraqi on U.S. violence is high now and will grow by the day.

"Resentment on both sides will build and reinforce itself until a violent incident break outs into the open," the memo continued. "If that were to happen the violence will remain tactically isolated, but it will wreck our strategic relationships and force our withdrawal under very unfavorable circumstances."

The memo, first published by the New York Times on July 30, reported a drastic change in attitude by the Iraq Army since the U.S. military withdrawal from cities on June 30. Reese said Iraq has imposed "unilateral restrictions on U.S. forces that violate the most basic aspects" of the Status of Forces Agreement signed in late 2008.

"Sudden coolness to advisors and CDRs, lack of invitations to meetings," the memo, written in mid-July, said. "ISF [Iraqi security forces] units are far less likely to want to conduct combined combat operations with U.S. forces, to go after targets the U.S. considers high value, etc."

Reese, a senior military adviser who for years has advocated a U.S. withdrawal, reported provocations by Iraqi military units around Baghdad. He said Iraqi soldiers have been confronting their U.S. counterparts in several areas of Baghdad and other major cities.

The memo asserted that Iraq's military and security forces, without American help, have managed to counter both Al Qaida and Iranian-backed insurgency threats in wake of

"ISF military capability is sufficient to handle the current level of threats from Sunni and Shiite violent groups," the memo said. "Our combat forces' presence here on the streets and in the rural areas adds only marginally to their capability while exposing us to attacks to which we cannot effectively respond." "Today the Iraqi security forces are good enough to keep the government of Iraq from being overthrown by the actions of Al Qaida in Iraq, the Baathists, and the Shia violent extremists that might have toppled it a year or two ago," the memo said. "Iraq may well collapse into chaos of other causes, but we have made the ISF strong enough for the internal security mission."

Officials said Reese, who recommended an accelerated withdrawal from Iraq, expressed the assessment within the administration of President Barack Obama. On July 29, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon would consider an accelerated pullout amid a pledge by Obama for a withdrawal of all combat troops by August 2010.

The memo asserted that the U.S. military could no longer influence Iraq's military or police. Reese said the rate of improvement of Iraqi security forces, still dominated by Baathist culture, has dwindled amid Baghdad's increasing opposition to a partnership with the United States.

"We have reached the point of diminishing returns, however, and need to find a new set of tools," Reese said. "The massive partnering efforts of U.S. combat forces with ISF isn't yielding benefits commensurate with the effort and is now generating its own opposition. If there ever was a window where the seeds of a professional military culture could have been implanted, it is now long past. U.S. combat forces will not be here long enough or with sufficient influence to change it."

Reese, in an assertion echoed by other U.S. officers, reported widespread corruption, nepotism, lack of initiative and laziness in the Iraqi security forces. He said senior Iraqi commanders, despite massive U.S. help, have been unable to change this.

"They are unable to instill discipline among their officers and units for the most basic military standards," the memo said. "They are unable to take basic steps to manage the force development process. They are unable to stick to their deals with U.S. leaders."

The memo called for a complete military withdrawal by August 2010. In the meantime, Reese said, the United States should press Baghdad for a new agreement that would ensure a long-term American military presence within one to three air bases.

"But it should not include the presence of any combat forces save those for force protection needs or the occasional exercise," Reese said."

Finally, it will set the conditions for a new relationship between the U.S. and Iraq without the complications of the residual effects of the U.S. invasion and occupation."

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