U.S. plans elite Iraqi force for security

[PfcHammer]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-22-elite-force_x.htm

U.S. plans elite Iraqi force for security
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD — The U.S.-led coalition is recruiting Iraqis for an elite volunteer unit that would fight fellow Iraqis resisting the occupation of the country.

The plan is a tacit acknowledgement that the coalition and its Iraqi allies are having trouble fighting the insurgency because most new Iraqi security forces are reluctant or afraid to fight their countrymen.

"We didn't get it right the first time," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who is responsible for organizing and training Iraq's new armed forces. "So we're going after other approaches."

During recent insurgent violence, about 10% of Iraq's security forces "actually worked against us," the commander of the 1st Armored Division said Wednesday. "We have to take a look at the Iraqi security forces and learn why they walked," Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey told a meeting of news executives in Washington.

<snip>

[maddezmom]

1. para-military?

:wtf: thought the plan was to rid Iraq of killing squads...

[chenGOD]

2. Elite Republican Guards?

I thought they just got rid of that force?

[dai]

3. Didn't Saddam have one of these?

The mind boggles.

[TahitiNut]

4. Just another Republican Guard.

:shrug:

[thebigidea]

5. WANTED: thugs willing to kill countrymen for money.

Must be willing to take orders from weasely PNAC goons. Lack of scruples a plus. Big moustache desireable, but not required. Send resume & flowers to: "Jerry" PO BOX 329742943 Newark, Iraq.

What's funny about this whole thing is that the type of people they want would be the sort you wouldn't want to actually trust or turn your back on... so this is gonna work out GRRRRRRRREAT!

[teryang]

6. This takes the cake

<The U.S.-led coalition is recruiting Iraqis for an elite volunteer unit that would fight fellow Iraqis resisting the occupation of the country.>

Iraqis, sign up here to shoot your own countrymen fighting a foreign occupation.

<"We have to take a look at the Iraqi security forces and learn why they walked," Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey told a meeting of news executives in Washington.>

Maybe they don't want to take up arms for a foreign invader that has killed tens of thousands of their countrymen.

<The coalition will also hasten plans to bolster the new Iraqi army's arsenal of rifles and light and medium-sized machine guns with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. The insurgents have an array of heavy weapons.>

This will probably result in a better armed insurgence.

<The coalition has sought to convince the Iraqi soldiers that their role is to defend the legitimacy of the new government. But some Iraqi troops and other security forces recently have refused to fight insurgents:>

What legitimacy? The government was installed by a foreign invader and no elections have been held despite the repeated requests of leaders representing the majority of the country.

<"What I had was a battalion that just didn't understand why they were engaged by their own people," said Eaton, who formerly commanded the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga.>

Hey, it's just a paycheck, you don't expect me to kill my countrymen do you? After all, you aren't even supposed to be in my country.

I guess our generals aren't even capable of imagining what goes through the mind of these inscrutable and "unsoldierly" natives. It's just way too complex for them to figure out. The major complexity that they can't figure out is the reasoning behind the American presence there. What is the plan? Can there be a viable plan? Since this is a forbidden thought under the UCMJ their confusion is projected onto the Iraqis.

[bemildred]

7. Yeah, they always have a plan, and their plans always suck. nt

[bahrbearian]

8. "We didn't get it right the first time,"

try try again.

[markses]

9. Lam Son 719?

We can look forward to more debacles with our "elite force," to be sure. Needless to say, all colonial occupiers perform such gestures, and they generally end in disaster.

[Frances]

10. And who will head up these forces? Saddam?

nt