Iraqi army not ready to take over until 2020 ..isn't that special?

[SoCalDem]

This report is from the Guardian, but earlier on BBC, a correspondent said that the US was pulling troops out so democrats would not lose too many seats in the election:grr:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/iraqi-army-not-ready-general

says country's top general

Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari calls for US army to stay beyond Obama's 2011 deadline for complete withdrawal


* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 August 2010 08.20 BST

The Iraqi army is not ready to take over responsibility from the Americans, its most senior general has warned, as the White House insists the US army is on course to end its combat role in the country by the end of this month. Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari told a defence conference in Baghdad that the Iraqi army would be unable to cope without backing from US forces. He suggested the Iraqi army would be incapable of assuming control for another decade. "If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020," he said.

This is not the first time Zebari has said Iraq needs the Americans to stay longer, but the timing of his comments makes them significant. Barack Obama has pledged to hand over military responsibility to the Iraqi government by the end of the August as part of plan to reduce troop levels to 50,000. Zebari said the reduction in US troop numbers was "going well" but only because "they are still here". He predicted trouble next year when all the remaining US troops are due to leave.

"The problem will start after 2011 – the politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011," he said. Last night the White House said Obama was satisfied that the US could finish its combat role in Iraq safely this month and meet the deadline for removing troops from the country by the end of 2011. The president was briefed on withdrawal by his national security team and the top US commander in Iraq, Ray Odierno. The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "The president heard directly from General Odierno, who said that we were on target to complete our drawdown by the end of August. Already we have removed over 80,000 troops from Iraq since President Obama took office." Violence in Iraq has fallen since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-2007, but in July the number of violent civilian deaths from daily bombings, shootings and other attacks rose sharply. US officials expect violence to worsen as insurgents exploit the failure of political factions to agree on a new government after an inconclusive parliamentary election in March. This week US-backed militia leaders have said al-Qaida is attempting to make a comeback in Iraq. "There continues to be terrorists in Iraq. There continues to be acts of violence," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. But they had not affected "the positive trends" in Iraq and the overall level of violence had gone down, Rhodes said.

snip

[Sherman A1]

1. Begs the question

just what have we and they been doing all these years?

[SoCalDem]

3. Exactly.. Saddam seemed to be able to get his military up & running

Remember how our media portrayed them as the FOURTH largest military in the world and how they tried to make all of America soooo afraid of them?

[Chulanowa]

4. And then we completely gutted it

Put the men in the streets (and ended up killing quite a number of them) and sold off the bits and pieces of hardware to high bidders, or used it for scrap or target practice. Exactly how many ammo dumps went up in flames that first year? I could swear it was something like 27. On top of all the destruction we caused to military targets prior to the invasion itself, and of course the damage done under a decade of child-killing sanctions. And let's not forget that all the money we sent to Iraq went through tiers of middlemen each with overhead costs, all part of privatization, only to finally meet corruption in the country itself, both US and Iraqi.

Anyone surprised by this statement hasn't been paying attention

[Kolesar]

7. Your sig. line art is a hoot!

good morning :spray:

[Chulanowa]

10. That was an actual ad I pulled off google

it cracked me up, so there it is!

[SoCalDem]

12. I once had an ad for a neutron bomb show up

but back then I did not know how to do a screen cap:)

[NNN0LHI]

8. Saddam had a half a million person police force, army, air force, navy and intelligence agency

Why? Because that is what it took. We are never going to have that over there.

Don

[saigon68]

6. Graft, Corruption, funneling $$$ to Swiss Banks

That's whats been going on.

Also don't forget a select minority of thugs and criminal contractors making millions to act like Rambo

[Journeyman]

2. But will it be "insurgents (who) exploit the failure of political factions to agree" . . .

or the Afghan army (supported by those "disagreeing" political factions) which exploits the failure of the American presence and stirs trouble enough to induce the US to stay beyond the favored withdrawal date?

[Snazzy]

5. Lt.. General Zebari--maybe can get that other star by 2020

Lt. General Zebari is Iraq's most senior general (per the Guardian).

Why is that? I mean, this is exactly the sort of thing that messes with me, just when I think we have an orderly USA empire.

Why is it the highest rank in Iraqi military not yet a maximum rank? Do we need a ceremony? I mean, I guess it's nice the fellow can improve, but since "we" say "we" are leaving, isn't it about time to call him:

Zebari, the Supreme Iraqi Commander (and 4 star general)

and then let him have the job of blowing stuff up (or not) for a while if not like for ever.

Must we wait to 2020. Promote the man now, he deserves it and I like the cut of his jaw.

[PA Democrat]

9. And where will the money come from to do THAT?

Social Security cuts? You know no one in Washington would propose a tax increase.

[EFerrari]

11. I saw the same BBC report.

That was pretty bald, wasn't it? I don't remember them doing that to the torture president.

[blindpig]

13. Imagine that....

Whodda thunk?

This has been obvious for years.