Pentagon cites progress in Iraq democracy

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | July 21, 2005 | ROBERT BURNS

[neverdem]

AP MILITARY WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon told Congress on Thursday that progress toward establishing democracy in Iraq is on track despite an adaptable and deadly insurgency, but it offered no estimate of when U.S. troops would start withdrawing.

In its most comprehensive public assessment yet of conditions in Iraq, the military released a 23-page report that described progress and problems on the political, economic and security fronts.

Some Democrats were quick to criticize, saying the accounting fell short of helping the public understand when U.S. troops can leave.

"They missed an opportunity," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the lead Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense.

He said the report lacks specific criteria for judging when Iraq will be stable enough for U.S. troops, now numbering 138,000, to withdraw.

The report says the key will be reaching the point when Iraqi security forces are trained and equipped at a level at which they can assume primary responsibility. The report does not estimate when that will happen.

"How do you measure success? That's the criteria that we aren't getting," Murtha said.

As for the training of Iraqi troops, Murtha said: "We've got a long ways to go, let's put it that way. ... They just aren't ready to take over."

Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp, director of strategic plans for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that specific measuring tools are useful in gauging the combat capabilities of Iraqi forces. But he said decisions about when Iraqis can take over for U.S. troops will be based in part of the judgment of U.S. commanders.

U.S. officers have developed a method of calculating the combat readiness of the approximately 76,700 Iraqi Army troops. The Pentagon said it "should not and must not" publicly disclose specific data.

"The enemy's knowledge of such details would put both Iraqi and coalition forces at increased risk," the report said.

That information, along with details on various possible changes in the level of U.S. forces in Iraq next year, were included in a part of the report that was classified as secret, along with the unclassified report delivered to Congress.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Rumsfeld was making a mistake by not publicly releasing the information about Iraqi security forces' readiness.

"By withholding this information from the public, the administration is denying Americans their right to know how much work remains to be done," Biden said. "The notion, as Secretary Rumsfeld suggested, that this information would somehow aid the enemy is absurd.

"No one is asking him to identify the location or name of Iraqi units in question. No one is asking him to comment on the morale of Iraqi troops. We are simply asking for an honest accounting of the level of troop readiness and capability - not just the misleading number of Iraqis in uniform."

Pentagon officials said later that only three of the approximately 100 Iraqi army battalions are taking on the insurgents by themselves. About one-third is fully capable of operating against the insurgency, but only with U.S. support.

The rest are partially capable of operating with American support, the officials said, citing a statement Gen. Peter Pace provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 29.

The Pace statement, first reported by the New York Times, was in response to a question posed at his confirmation hearing to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Thursday's report to Congress noted that when U.S. and Iraqi forces assaulted the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah last November several Iraqi battalions "collapsed." Absenteeism among regular Iraqi army units was "in double digits" and remained so for the rest of the year, according to the report.

"Although such problems have not been entirely solved, they have been addressed in large measure" through efforts that have alleviated equipment shortages, the report said.

"Still, units that are conducting operations and units that relocate elsewhere in Iraqi experience a surge in absenteeism," it added.

Although the report said that Iraqi Sunnis make up the largest proportion of the insurgency, it also decried a continuing influx of foreign terrorists from across Iraq's borders. Iraq has 15,500 trained border police, but their effectiveness varies widely and is rated by U.S. officials as "generally moderate to low."

On the Net:

Iraq report: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/d20050721secstab.pdf

[neverdem]

Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman, left, accompanied by Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp, director of strategic policy and plans for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets reporters at the Pentagon, Thursday, July 21, 2005 to discuss a Pentagon report on Iraq. In it, the Pentagon cited progress on political, economic and security fronts. But it did not say how soon Iraqi security forces will be sufficiently trained to defend the country without the direct assistance of American troops. (AP Photo/Heesoon Yim)