U.S. Is Speeding Up Plan for Creating a New Iraqi Army

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 — A senior official said today that the United States had stepped up the timetable for creating a new Iraqi army, with plans for 40,000 troops in the field by next year in a program that brings back and retrains midlevel officers from the old army to run boot camps for recruits.

Walter B. Slocombe, in charge of rebuilding Iraqi security institutions, said the new goal is 27 battalions organized in three divisions within 12 months, twice as fast as in initial plans. The projected total of 40,000 is less than one-10th of the former Iraqi armed forces.

The speeding up of plans to deploy an Iraqi army that might relieve some of the pressure on American forces comes against a backdrop of mounting difficulties in Iraq for the Bush administration. Attempts to raise billions of dollars for reconstruction, to secure more foreign troops to deploy there, and to stamp out resistance to the American-led occupation have met with mixed results.

Pledges of international funds have been scant. Today, in meetings with Treasury Secretary John W. Snow in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, Saudi leaders declined to make any firm commitment to contribute funds to Iraqi reconstruction. But they did make a pledge to fight terrorism.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/18/international/middleeast/18MILI.html?hp

[legin]

1. There is the potential for upsetting the Shiites

<<snip>>

In moving hastily, the administration could be tempted to draw significantly from the former Sunni Arab military officer corps, the Sunni Arab rank and file, and the few Shiite Arab officers who had risen to senior positions in Saddam Hussein's completely politicized army. Unintentionally, the administration could transgress a red line with Iraq's Shiite clergy, who are closely watching how America handles the reconstitution of Iraq's security forces. It was the army, in Sunni Arab hands, and the British that denied the Shiites their rightful predominance in the country's first parliament after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Without the army, Iraq's succession of dictators could never have destroyed its once vibrant culture.

<<snip>>

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/103webeo.asp
(grotty source true but it seems like a reasonable article in places)

[JCMach1]

2. Guess where all the oil money is going

:grr:

[tkmorris]

3. So......

The thinking here is that a 40,000 man, freshly trained, Iraqi army is going to be able to keep the peace in a country where 120,000 American troops could not? Especially when those troops will be little more than the "muscle" for an American installed ruling council?

LOL sure. That'll work. This sounds like "save face and get out, then strongarm the media into under-reporting the resulting chaos".