Pentagon: One-third of new Iraqi army quit just before starting operations

USA Today (AP) ^ | 12/10/03

[truthandlife]

Plans to deploy the first battalion of Iraq's new army are in doubt because a third of the soldiers trained by the U.S.-led occupation authority have quit, defense officials said Wednesday.

Touted as a key to Iraq's future, the 700-man battalion lost some 250 men over recent weeks as they were preparing to begin operations this month, Pentagon officials said.

[squidly]

Maybe we need Iran to invade. Then the deserters could be shot.

[yonif]

Plans to deploy the first battalion of Iraq's new army are in doubt because a third of the soldiers trained by the U.S.-led occupation authority have quit, defense officials said Wednesday.

Those who left might use their new skills to target Americans.

[CindyDawg]

I wouldn't think it was pay. They should have known that when they started.

[wizardoz]

Iraqis are looking increasingly like post WWII Europeans: Accustomed to socialism/ fascism, weak, petulant, psychologically crippled, and good for almost nothing.

[PokeyJoe]

ah . . .

I was thinking that it had to do something with France in some way. . .

. . . ya know, . . .

. . . with all that running away like cheese eating monkeys.

[jolie560]

Agree--I question the seriousness of Iraqis to govern their country. They want another "Strongman"--just not Saddam.

[OldFriend]

250 men out of 160,000............this is considered a significant number of dropouts????????????

[FairOpinion]

Don't be so harsh on the Iraqis. Remember anyone under 35 has been born and raised during Saddam's terror regime and knows no other. Anyone under 45 probably was too young to remember anything from times before Saddam.

Anyone over 45, who may remember, have probably had their spirits broken during Saddam's 35 year old reign of terror.

Iraqi's are like abused children or abused animals -- it will take them a long time, to emotionally learn that things are different.

Also Saddam's Fedayeen are still trying and at least partially succeeding in terrorizing the people.

[wizardoz]

Yeah, I know. I'm just sick of it.

[cookcounty]

One of my few criticisms of Rumsfeld and Bremer is that they dissolved the Iraqi Regulars. They hated Saddam as much as anybody. Why they didn't just decapitate the field grade officer corps and go ahead with the rest is beyond me.

[GeronL]

Those one third are probably joining the bad guys!!

[FairOpinion]

All is not bad in Iraq, just the bad stuff gets much more press.

In case you haven't seen it, here is a "good news" article worth reading:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1034939/posts

Iraq behind the cameras: a different reality (good news)


We've got a lot of good things going on, but when I went home (on leave), people were just like 'We never hear that stuff,' " said Civil Affairs Pvt. Amy Schroeder. "That's what makes the families worry."

What Iraq looks like on TV, and what Iraq is like for the 130,000 troops living here, sometimes feels like two different realities.

That's especially true for the Army's Civil Affairs soldiers, reservists who often serve as civil engineers in their "real life" jobs, and who are here working in Iraq's schools, hospitals and factories. There are thousands of Civil Affairs soldiers in Iraq, and their daily missions take them into all regions of the country, from the water plants in Basra to the south, to canning factories up north in Irbil.

"Our stories aren't the sexiest," says the 432nd Civil Affairs Brigade commander, Gary Beard. "But what we do will build the success of this country."

[Mike Darancette]

I've heard criticism that the USA should have not disbanded the Iraqi Army and utilized it in rebuilding Iraq. The problem was that all we could find of the Iraqi Army was a bunch of discarded uniforms.

[wizardoz]

I know there are good stories. But I think as we get to know the Iraqis, we will increasingly find them to be eerily simliar to the French.

[Maynerd]

One-third of new Iraqi army quit just before starting operations

Pathetic. Are there any Iraqi men who have the guts vision and character to create a free and prosperous country? Arab culture is absolutely pathetic. I have never seen such a collection of whining, ungrateful, lazy, cowardly sad sacks; who as a bonus treat women like kaka.

Sadly if we cannot reform and rehabilitate these losers, nukes will likely be exploding in the Middle East within 10 years.

[RLK]

Pentagon: One-third of new Iraqi army quit just before starting operations

-------------------------

This is halarious.

[FairOpinion]

I think the Iraqis would find it offensive, that you compare them to the French.

I think most are very grateful to us and hate the French.

But there are a number of bad apples, and they get all the press.

So there were 250 Iraqis who quit -- well, 500 of them DIDN'T quit.

[resistmuch]

When we finally leave Iraq, the place will descend into civil war or authoritarian rule: and it won't be pro-American. What a waste.