US may have botched training of Iraqis

[BushOut06]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq

<snip>
Training the police is as important to stabilizing Iraq as standing up an army there, but the United States has botched the job by assigning the wrong agencies to the task, two members of the Iraq Study Group say.

"The police training system has not gone well," former Rep. Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the bipartisan commission, said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was joined in his statements by another member of the study group, Edwin Meese III, who was attorney general during the Reagan administration.

The U.S. erred by first assigning the task of shaping the judicial system in a largely lawless country to the State Department and private contractors who "did not have the expertise or the manpower to get the job done," Hamilton and Meese said in testimony obtained by The Associated Press.

In 2004, the mission was assigned to the Defense Department, which devoted more money to the task. But department officials also were insufficiently trained for the job, Hamilton and Meese said.
<snip>

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. As Gomer sez, "SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!"

EVERY SINGLE BLOODY THING that this administration has touched, they have fucked up.

It has to be by design. It is impossible to screw up so badly, unless you really want to screw up.

[marmar]

2. May have?

That's akin to "smoking may have contributed to lung cancer."

[DrZeeLit]

15. thank you... my inner voice screaming: MAY? MAY? MAY? Helloooooo!

What is with these RIDICULOUS headlines in the face of REALITY?
Why the hell are people still hedging?
I sooooo do NOT get this timid approach to the news.

In fact, why the heck call this "breaking news" -- just cuz someone said so?
Sheesh.
Everybody with an ounce of intelligence knew this years ago.
Isn't that even sad? We can now say about this war -- "years ago"?
wow.
Years ago.,

[atreides1]

3. What a cluster

Now correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't a certain General by the name of Petraeus the DoD assigned trainer?

And wasn't the same General Petraeus just recently confirmed by the Senate to be the new commander in Iraq?

So tell me again how are own troops aren't screwed???

[Kagemusha]

5. You are correct.

"Petraeus is credited with doing a better job than his predecessor of training Iraqi soldiers and police in 2004 and 2005. But the Iraqis still cannot secure their own country, and corruption remains endemic. Sectarian militias have penetrated many security forces. And large numbers of Iraqi police and soldiers simply don't show up for duty."

from NPR:

http://216.35.221.77/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6952481

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. "May?"

Give me a break.

[frogcycle]

6. oh, wait - late-breaking correction

they WERE the right people for the job. They passed the Roe v. Wade litmus test with flying colors, and denied that there was such a thing as global warming

[Evergreen Emerald]

7. what "training" is exactly needed?

The insurgents are not trained and they are doing a thorough job. Why has it taken four years for them to train?

[CJCRANE]

8. What gets me

is that AFAIK everything was working reasonably before the invasion. There was an army and police force and civil service, water, electricity etc.

It's like they literally took Iraq back to Year Zero.

[frogcycle]

9. a good friend has made the point repeatedly that

when he was drafted out of college for failing to submit his "i'm still in school" form on time, a few months was considered adequate time to train him to get his boots on the ground in VN.


Training is not the issue. Motivation is the issue. The insurgents have a "cause" so they figure out how to do shit.

[Jacobin]

10. Actually, the Iraqi military is doing very well indeed

They are kicking our asses.

[pinniped]

11. Well, I guess that means the US can never leave.

The training of Iraqis is what these fools keep clamoring about.

"We can't leave until we train the Iraqis, blah, blah, blah."

They never planned on leaving anyways and probably planned to botch this up as well as everything else.

Who the hell are they trying to fool with this shit?

[CJCRANE]

14. As per my comment upthread

IMO that's why they disbanded the Iraqi army, police force and civil service. If they had simply gone in and put in a new leadership and left everything functioning there would be no reason to keep Coalition troops there.

For instance in Afghanistan they held a big "Loya Jerga" with the UN involved to get a fairly representative government up and running as soon as possible. I never understood why Jay Garner needed to be the Governor of Baghdad when there was no Governor of Kabul.

[ima_sinnic]

12. the real "news" would be that they DIDN'T screw something up

--these are the same ass-clowns who "handled" Katrina, as witnessed by the entire world, and the same a-c's on whose watch 9/11 even occurred. Just two major examples out of hundreds. so why is it "news" that they mismanaged something?

[Javaman]

13. you think? nt