Posted on 09/04/2007 3:44:08 PM PDT by Shermy
The Iraqi Army included a lot of conscipts (I believe mostly Shia) who served because they would be killed if they refused. They fled when the invasion came. They were not a group to build a new Iraqi Army around. The new Army would need to be professionals, carrying out their duties even when it conflicted with their tribal and religious loyalties.
Then there were the Sunnis in the Army, including most of the general officers. They were there because of their fierce loyalty to Saddam. Remember Saddam wasn't found until December. Were we going to form the new Army using people loyal to Saddam? One of their key tasks was to find Saddam. Another was to fight insurgents who fought out of loyalty to Saddam and tried to effect his return.
The Army also had been an instrument of tyranny. It was used to slaughter the Shia and Kurds. How liberating would it have been for the people of Iraq to see the same people who had tyrannized them still in power?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1873827/posts?page=21#21
Excerpt:
Duncan Hunter: Thanks for the question. First, I think the job is a long hard difficult road and as I said, there is no smooth road to occupation. So the implication that somehow that we made these terrible decisions that we should have let Saddam Hussein’s army stay in place, I think that would have been a mess, or the idea that we should have stuffed more Americans in there earlier, I think that would not have necessarily been good. There would have given more targets and that certainly doesn’t give an Iraqi face to the security apparatus. Occupations are a tough, long difficult road. I think it is worth while, I think we have done a fairly good job to this point, and I think we are close to having success here.
Except to everyone that said this was a mistake and that our leadership was being too rosy about the future and not real enough. But in the end I guess it is okay because this whole thing paid for itself.
Heckuva job!
How can you leave an active enemy army intact????
People prefer to be governed by their own people, even if they make bone-headed decisions than by competent foreigners, especially former oppressors.
It certainly seems that way.
As the Iraqi Army melted away, there was little to disband, but rebuilding it from the bottom up was the right decision. For one thing, it cut the number of mess hall suicide bombers.
If we could have, disbanding the national police force, instead of leaving recalcitrant elements loyal to Saddam, would have produced ultimately a more effective force.
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