Posted on 04/02/2008 2:15:42 PM PDT by DJ Elliott
The 14th division of the Iraqi army, which led the fight in Basra, was supposed to be one of their best — and also one of the most loyal to Prime Minister Maliki — and yet they took heavy casualties, had to be bailed out of firefights, and according to Browne, showed "fragility" under fire. (Nice euphemism, that.) If that's how the 14th performed, what does that say about the rest of the Iraqi army?
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The 14th's opening cerimony was four months ago. HQ components intended for the 12th Division were sent to Basrah last fall to accelerate the 14th's formation. Originally it was not due to stand up until June 2008.
The 14th Div has the distinction of being the current youngest and greenest commisioned IA Division.
The 14th hasn't got its fourth line brigade (due in June) or logistics components yet (due in late summer).
The 14th got its third line brigade fresh from training. Graduated the Besmaya Unit Set Fielding Program on 18 Feb 2008.
The 14th's second line brigade is the former 5-10 which was stood up May07 and its cadre came from the corrupt 1-10 Brigade. It is reportedly not trusted by its own CO.
The 14th's only experienced component is its first brigade. The former 3-8 Brigade from Wassit was redesignated/transfered in and the corrupt 1-10 was transfered out.
This is a still forming new division.
Not the cream of the crop.
Arguably the least capable of the IA at this point.
They have done quite well for their first major operation...
(Note: Do not be surprised if you see this mentioned again in the monthly ISF update at LWJ. I am drafting it ATT. Need more beer to dull the pain of reading the press...)
In terms of being “bailed out” by a few American airstrikes, I don’t believe Iraq has an air force to speak of and our own troops operate under cover of significant air power. I believe it is called “winning”.
When MSM address topics of which I have personal or professional expertise, they uniformly get the story fatally wrong.
What am I to think when they address topics of which I am not an expert?
Actually, the Iraqi Air Force did participate.
They have a recon squadron at Basrah and sent a detachment of MI-17s to support the ISOF Commando Battalion operating in Basrah.
The MI-17s are armed with LMGs and 57mm rocket pods and conducted at least one ISOF Air Assault raid.
Note: Since the coalition was directing the air traffic, they used coalition IFF and callsigns...
It’s all part of trying to keep their mantra that Iraqis “aren’t doing anything”, which so many anti-war people are banking upon right now. If they were to concede the Iraqi Army is actually doing its job, then their position would be even more precarious.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Denigrating our allies is the oldest play in the lefty book. I recall the New York Times, after the South Vietnamese heroically held off N Viet tank assaults alone at An Loc, writing that “even a rat will fight when it’s cornered”. BTW that was when the N Viets were found to be chained inside their tanks so they couldn’t desert.
That, and they’re lying to themselves so that they can remove themselves from any guilt when Iraq descends into chaos if a withdrawal was to occur. Kind of like how the Left washed its blood drenched hands of Southeast Asia by saying that “nothing could be done”.
And this is what they are trying to play up:
Quote: But most of the deserters were not officers. The American military official said, “From what we understand, the bulk of these were from fairly fresh troops who had only just gotten out of basic training and were probably pushed into the fight too soon.” Unquote
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
This is the second source that I have seen that says the 52nd IA Brigade “broke”. The 52nd graduated training in mid-Feb and this would have been their first time in combat.
The greenest brigade of the greenest division in the Iraqi Army “broke”. That isn’t a headline. Claiming they are the best of the Iraqi Army is...
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