Posted on 08/06/2009 4:25:04 PM PDT by azadi4iran
From The Economist print edition
Iraqi commanders say they can run the show on their own. Really?<\b>
AMERICAN commanders in Baghdad have been here before. In 2004, a year after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, they handed the reins of security to freshly trained forces of a once-again sovereign Iraq and encouraged them to take control of the main towns. But the Iraqis proved unable or unwilling to hold the line against the insurgents. The Americans delayed their exit and set about retraining the Iraqis. This time will it be different?
Probably yes. Since they again took control of the urban areas early last month, Iraqi security forces, now numbering 274,000-plus regulars and interior-ministry troops along with 277,000 police, have surprised American commanders with their new assertiveness. If anything, the Americans now find their former understudies too aggressive. “They’re like kids with a brand-new muscle car, out there burning rubber,” says an American officer. “It almost scares you.”
That may sound condescending. But there is genuine cause for worry. Overconfidence among soldiers can be as dangerous as timidity. That was evident recently when Iraqi troops raided a camp that hosted 3,400 Iranian dissidents north of Baghdad. Most of them belong to the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahideen-e Khalq, a group given sanctuary by Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, after it fell out with the ruling clerics in Tehran. After the Americans took over in 2003, the PMOI people at Camp Ashraf, as the place is known, were disarmed. More recently the Iraqis decided to take over the camp, doubtless with the encouragement of their ruling fellow Shias in Tehran. Ignoring American protests, the Iraqi forces killed at least 11 inmates....
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Your welcome.
And your point is?
thank you
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