US general: Baghdad needs 3000 more Iraqi troops (are reluctant to come)

[sabra]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1157913685576&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

US general: Baghdad needs 3000 more Iraqi troops
By ASSOCIATED PRESS


The US needs roughly 3,000 more Iraqi forces to join the battle in Baghdad, but requests for the troops have not been met because Iraqi soldiers are reluctant to leave their home regions, the commander of US forces in Baghdad said Friday.

Maj. Gen. James Thurman told Defense Department reporters that while the US has 15,000 troops in Baghdad - which military leaders say is the priority battlefront in Iraq - there are only about 9,000 Iraqi soldiers there. That is just a fraction of the 128,000 Iraqi Army troops that the US says are now trained and equipped.

Iraqi soldiers generally join battalions in their geographic regions, and Thurman said that "due to the distance, (they) did not want to travel into Baghdad." He said the Iraqi minister of defense is working on the problem, and "I'm confident that they're going to meet that requirement here within the next few weeks, but it's going to take a little time."

Thurman said he asked for the additional Iraqi forces early on in the Baghdad campaign, which began in June. He added, "I don't think putting more coalition (troops) in here is the right answer."

[acmejack]

1. Well now we can use some more aggressive recruiting techniques.

If they are good for interrogation, I reckon they ought to be pretty good for getting people to sign anything else You want as well. I mean who is going to be looking real hard at the fine print at what they are signing?

[saigon68]

9. They need a few more Rose Petal Parades

[stepnw1f]

2. Enlist Bush Supporters

especially the GOP Congress's kids!

[JNelson6563]

3. And the talking heads and the Freepers

and every other war-mongering chicken-hawk in America.

Big talkers. All hat and no cattle just like their brainless front-man.

Julie

[Vinca]

4. If the Iraqis aren't interested in leaving their homes to fight,

why the hell should our young men and women be expected to leave their homes? This pisses me off more than news broadcasts that show young, Iraqi men playing board games and drinking coffee while our troops are on patrol in the street. Enough is enough.

[sabra]

5. the division is already there, each city has it's own militia

sadly, there won't be "unity" anytime soon...

[daleo]

6. Most of them are probably just picking up a paycheck

I doubt if the Iraqi National Army, or whatever the papers call it, is much more than a convenient fiction. The whole thing is a farce.

[tabasco]

7. Even Iraqi soldiers don't want to go to Baghdad.

I wonder why that is.

Republican screeching heads tell us how wonderful things are going in Iraq.

[BigDDem]

8. Im sure College Rethuglicans will rush off to enlist any moment now

Holding breath....

[rodeodance]

10. a lot of this has to do with tribal loyalities.