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U.S. says Iraqi security forces' abilities limited

Posted on: Thursday, 21 July 2005, 12:54 CDT

By Will Dunham and Vicki Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only half of Iraq's police battalions are capable of carrying out operations against insurgents and two-thirds of army battalions and the rest of the police are no more than "partially capable," according to a U.S. military assessment made public on Thursday.

"Only a small number of Iraqi Security Forces are taking on the insurgents and terrorists by themselves," according to an unclassified assessment provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee by Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Pace's assessment was provided to reporters on the same day the Pentagon gave lawmakers, more than a week late, a 23-page congressionally mandated report on the status of Iraq on political, economic and security fronts.

The Bush administration has said U.S. forces cannot leave Iraq until American-trained Iraqi security forces are capable of protecting their own country, currently gripped by a tenacious insurgency that arose in 2003 after a U.S.-led invasion toppled President Saddam Hussein.

Administration officials often cite progress being made by these security forces.

But Pace, poised to become the top U.S. military officer this fall, told lawmakers only about a third of Iraqi army battalions are capable of planning, executing and sustaining operations against insurgents with the support of U.S.-led foreign forces.

"Approximately two-thirds of their army battalions and one half of their police battalions are partially capable of conducting counterinsurgency operations in conjunction with coalition units," Pace's assessment stated. "Approximately one half of their police battalions are forming and not yet capable of conducting operations."

The majority of Iraqi security forces are involved in operations against rebels, Pace stated, noting many have "performed superbly" and their capability is continuing to improve.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday said some Iraqi security forces were "green as grass," meaning inexperienced, while others were "battle-hardened and very, very good."

The Pentagon did not make public the section of its report to Congress dealing with future U.S. troop levels in Iraq. The United States has roughly 140,000 troops in Iraq.

The report offered no assessment of when U.S. forces might be withdrawn, saying such a decision is "conditions-based, not calendar-based" and will come only when "there is a free Iraq in which Iraqis themselves are the guarantors of their own liberty and security."

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, top Armed Services Committee Democrat, said he would press to have more information on Iraqi force capabilities made public. "Otherwise the American people are going to be left out of this process in determining just how long our troops can remain there," Levin said.

The report said as of this month there were 171,300 Iraqi security forces, including about 76,700 in the army, 600 in the Air Force and Navy, and 94,000 under the control of the Department of the Interior, most of whom are police. The report said 62,000 police were on duty as of late June.

The army was 40 percent short of its authorized equipment level, although it has more than 100 percent of its AK-47 automatic weapon requirements, it said.

"The rate of absenteeism, AWOL, attrition and desertion in the IPS (Iraqi Police Service) varies by province. Most police units have experienced a decrease in absenteeism as the number of trained police has increased. The exact extent of insurgent infiltration is unknown," the report said.

AWOL rates from new Iraqi army units "were in double digits" throughout 2004, but the report said the situation has been "addressed in large measure" by increased funding although "such problems have not been entirely solved."

The report also said that, while the number of monthly attacks on Iraq's oil facilities, electric generation and other infrastructure had gone down since January's historic election, they continued "to have an adverse impact on electricity transmission and oil exports."

(Additional reporting by Charles Aldinger)

Source: REUTERS

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