"Iraq's soldiers are all in the US Army"

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC11Ak01.html

IRAQ'S SOVEREIGNTY VACUUM
PART 1:
A government with no military, no territory


-snip-

US Army, Iraqi soldiers
Iraqi government impotence flows from its lack of access to any systematic means of coercion. This may seem a strange assertion, given the increasing prominence of the Iraqi army in various military campaigns since late last summer, and the slogan popularized by Bush since about the same moment, "As the Iraqi military stands up, we will stand down."

Nonetheless, even if the Iraqi army, special forces and local police were to become the formidable military machine that American officials envisage, they would not add up to an effective instrument of Iraqi national policy, for a simple reason: these units are being developed as part of the occupation military, not as a force loyal to or commanded by the elected government.

It is well known that the Americans are recruiting and training both the military and the police in Iraq. What is less well known is that, once their training is complete, the Bush administration does not relinquish control over these forces.

Let's begin with the Iraqi army. Its troops are directly integrated into the occupation structure commanded by the US military. This is not just a matter of who makes command decisions. The Iraqi military has no air support, no artillery and almost no armored vehicles; nor does it have a logistics capacity that would allow it to resupply its fighting units. As a result, even if the Iraqi government could "take command" of its army, it could not fight battles on its own. This distinguishes the Iraqi army from virtually every other military on the planet. None of its units can go into battle unless they are integrated into the US military.

-snip-
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how clever of the bushmilhousegang

and will these Iraqis that will kill other Iraqis also kill Iranians for the bushmilhousegang?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Cheap cannon fodder for the generals to "sacrifice".

[Jack Rabbit]

2. How is this not like Vietnam?

When are we going to start hearing the repackaged jokes about ARVN?