Free Republic

On the outskirts of this former insurgent stronghold, Munir Ibrahim Ismail and his family have taken up residence in an American military latrine. They picked up the trailer full of toilets at a junkyard for about $5,000 — less than it would have cost them to build a real house — and set to work. They tore out the toilet bowls and scrubbed the trailer for days with disinfectant. They ripped off tiles, poured a concrete floor and added a window. They erected a divider to create two rooms and tacked on a concrete kitchen at the back. Presto! A...

Soldiers serving on Camp Taji, Iraq, trained Iraqi troops on the fundamentals of marksmanship with the M-16 rifle, June 15. The training was part of a continued effort by the U.S. to phase out the Iraqi Army's use of the Soviet-era AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle. The swap between the two weapons has gun-enthusiasts across the military and social-media sites up-in-arms, as fans of both weapons debate the practicality of the initiative. The AK-47, which has become symbolic of Middle Eastern militaries, has been used by the Iraqi Army since the 1960s. The weapon is less accurate than the western M-16...

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Iraqi security forces fighting alongside Marines in Fallujah are angry, saying they're outgunned by Sunni insurgents and resent being sent to fight fellow Iraqis. "Eighty percent of us want to leave and go to Baghdad" because they don't want to fight civilians in Fallujah, said Amar Hussein, a medic in the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. The 36th ICDC Battalion was supposed to be the elite of the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces, with members drawn from the militias run by various members of the Governing Council in order to fight insurgents who have been attacking U.S. forces and...

TALLAFAR, Iraq (Army News Service, April 20, 2004) -- Amidst mortar attacks, fire fights at the front gate, drive-by shootings, and the ever-present danger of Improvised Explosive Devices, a team of the 75th Division (Training Support) is training hundreds of soldiers of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It’s the first of four Advisory Support Teams from the 75th that will be part of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team, or CMATT. The objective is to advise, train, and organize the Iraqi Armed Forces as soon as possible so that Iraqis can defend their own country. This responsibility has been tasked to...

General: Much of Iraq's Forces Have Quit By CONNIE CASS, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - About one in every 10 members of Iraq 's security forces "actually worked against" U.S. troops during the recent militia violence in Iraq, and an additional 40 percent walked off the job because of intimidation, the commander of the 1st Armored Division said Wednesday. In an interview beamed by satellite from Baghdad to news executives attending The Associated Press annual meeting, Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said the campaign in Iraq was at a critical point. "We have to get this latest increase in violence under...

Fallujah, Iraq-AP -- Some members of Iraqi security forces working alongside Marines in Fallujah (fuh-LOO'-juh) say they resent fighting fellow Iraqis. And they also say they're being outgunned by Sunni insurgents. One member of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps says 80 percent of them want to leave Fallujah, and go to Baghdad. Some of the I-C-D-C forces stationed in Fallujah before the fighting have abandoned their posts -- and U-S commanders acknowledged that some may be joining the insurgents. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt says members of the 36th Battalion, made up of 240 soldiers helping enforce the Marine cordon...

BAGHDAD, April 17 (Reuters) - The first planes of Iraq's new air force, disbanded after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, will not include combat aircraft, the U.S.-led coalition said on Saturday. It said a squadron of six UH-1H Iroquois helicopters, used for patrols or ferrying soldiers, would be operational in July and would be joined by two Hercules C-130B in October. The helicopter force would be expanded to 16 by April next year, when the Hercules fleet would grow to six, a coalition statement said. It said four light reconnaissance aircraft would be added later this year, in the northern...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces have detained around 200 Iraqi paramilitary soldiers who refused to take part in a U.S. offensive against the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja, their former comrades said Friday. The U.S. military declined to confirm whether the men were being held. Senior officers play down the significance of such incidents but, asked about reports of mutiny among Iraqi troops, have acknowledged a "command failure" took place during the Falluja offensive. Soldiers from the Baghdad-based 36th Security Brigade, part of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), told Reuters that last week U.S. commanders took them at night...

U.S.-trained Iraqi forces failed to support U.S. troops By Matthew Schofield BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - In Ramadi, U.S. troops gave two-way radios to Iraqi forces, not for communications, as they claimed, but so they'd know when their allies were phoning Marine positions to the enemy. In Sadr City and Najaf, Iraqi police asked permission from Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - the man they were expected to capture or kill - before they reported to work. In Fallujah, at least two Iraqi battalions refused to join the fight against insurgents. Coalition forces fighting for the hearts and minds of Iraqis...

April 14, 2004 In blood-spattered Iraq, seasoned American soldiers and extraordinarily capable retired U.S. Army sergeants currently employed by the Vinnell Corporation have been busting their butts trying to forge a post-Saddam Iraqi army. It's probably the most daunting task either of these outfits has ever faced - and both have plenty of experience turning rabble into effective fighting machines. Today's gold standard in this type of exercise is the U.S. Army's molding of the South Korean army, which pound for mean pound has become one of the best-trained and disciplined armies in the world. This time around, the master...

FALLOUJA, Iraq — As would-be peacemakers tried Monday to avert a military showdown between U.S. Marines and insurgents cornered in this city, one group of soldiers left no doubt that it was prepared for a fight. "Fallouja, Fallouja, right now," chanted members of a battalion in the new Iraqi army who, along with Marines and U.S. Army Special Forces advisors, are living in a tumbledown house not far from where four Americans were killed and their bodies mutilated late last month. That brutal event triggered the current U.S. offensive in this city of 300,000. The performance of the Iraqi security...

A disparate group of Iraqi soldiers are helping the US fight insurgents in Fallujah. Tony Perry reports. As would-be peacemakers tried to avert a military showdown between US marines and insurgents cornered in Fallujah, one group of soldiers left no doubt that they were prepared for a fight. "Fallujah, Fallujah, right now," chanted members of a battalion in the new Iraqi army. The Iraqi troops, US marines and US Army Special Forces advisers live in a tumbledown house not far from where four Americans were killed and their bodies mutilated late last month. That event triggered the US offensive going...