Pentagon: More Iraqi Battalions Leading Counter-Insurgency

[sabra]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176930,00.html

Pentagon: More Iraqi Battalions Leading Counter-Insurgency

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A growing number of Iraqi troop battalions — nearly four dozen as of this week — are playing lead roles in the fight against the insurgency, and American commanders have turned over more than two dozen U.S.-established bases to government control, officials said Monday.

Those are among signs of progress that the Bush administration is citing as evidence that the Iraqis not only want more responsibility on the security front but are capable of handling it with less assistance from U.S. troops.

The steps toward lessening the U.S. military role in Iraq come amid mounting political pressure on the Bush administration to reduce the American presence in the face of rising casualties and an unrelenting insurgency.

President Bush is to give a major speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in which administration officials say he is expected to spotlight recent steps toward improving the readiness of Iraqi troops.

edit: It's an AP article reported on Faux

[still_one]

1. please do NOT put fox news on LBN

it is an insult to real journalism

perhaps general discussion, or maybe we should open a new category, propaganda

[sabra]

2. LOL - however it is an AP article via Faux

not sure if that makes it any better.

:-)

[still_one]

4. slightly, but prefer ap reference to faux

[politicaholic]

3. Great News! Uh-oh, Faux News is the source...nevermind. n/t

[pinniped]

5. The number of "Iraqi soldiers allegedly doing something" stories...

have been increasing lately.

Anyone else notice?

At this rate they should be ready to join the US on the crusades.

[mazzarro]

6. Faux-news and its ever optimistic stories on Iraq

Most of the "news" from faux-news turn out to be outright fabrications or politically slanted stories; I have hardly any trust on them.

[alkaline9]

7. so the number of Iraqi battalions just jumped overnight?

.. from what the General testified to congress about. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he say that there was only ONE battalion of Iraqi soldiers trained and ready? Now all of a sudden "nearly four dozen"???? I mean we've all been saying that it shouldn't take THAT long to train the Iraqi soldiers, but this smells funny to me.

[triguy46]

8. Give them a uniform and shove them to the front, the polls need it. n/t

.

[seafan]

9. Right on cue for American masses to accept the *Iraq turnover* .

Everybody, PLEASE make it your business to read the Hersh New Yorker article that was posted today. (LINK below)


From the Hersh article:

The Air Force’s worries have been subordinated, so far, to the political needs of the White House. The Administration’s immediate political goal after the December elections is to show that the day-to-day conduct of the war can be turned over to the newly trained and equipped Iraqi military. It has already planned heavily scripted change-of-command ceremonies, complete with the lowering of American flags at bases and the raising of Iraqi ones.

From this thread, the new Hersh New Yorker piece:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1951556

[sabra]

11. wow, that's freaky....

[Eugene]

10. Can these battalions fight on their own?

Last month there was exactly ONE Iraqi
battalion ready to fight on its own.

[stillcool]

12. with US air-power they can...

[NickB79]

13. A battalion is 300-1000 soldiers

So, after almost 3 YEARS of training, we can field between 14,400-48,000 Iraqi soldiers that are able to "play leading roles" in battles. Note that "play leading roles" is not the same as "fight independently of US assistance."