Training of Iraqi Security Forces

[Sayhey]

Bush and his minions have been crowing about the number of Iraqi Security forces that will join the US troops. At the debate he talked of 100,000 such troops with another 25,000 soon to join them, but is it real?

Key Bush assertions about Iraq in dispute
Sun 26 September, 2004 22:43
By Adam Entous

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Many of President George W. Bush's assertions about progress in Iraq -- from police training and reconstruction to preparations for January elections -- are in dispute, according to internal Pentagon documents, lawmakers and key congressional aides on Sunday.

Bush used the visit last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to make the case that "steady progress" is being made in Iraq to counter warnings by his Democratic presidential rival, Senator John Kerry, that the situation in reality is deteriorating.

Bush touted preparations for national elections in January, saying Iraq's electoral commission is up and running and told Americans on Saturday that "United Nations electoral advisers are on the ground in Iraq."

He said nearly 100,000 "fully trained and equipped" Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are already at work, and that would rise to 125,000 by the end of this year.

And he promised more than $9 billion (five billion pounds) will be spent on reconstruction contracts in Iraq over the next several months.

But many of these assertions have met with scepticism from key lawmakers, congressional aides and experts, and Pentagon documents, given to lawmakers and obtained by Reuters, paint a more complicated picture.

TROOP, POLICE TRAINING

The documents show that of the nearly 90,000 currently in the police force, only 8,169 have had the full eight-week academy training. Another 46,176 are listed as "untrained," and it will be July 2006 before the administration reaches its new goal of a 135,000-strong, fully trained police force.

Six Army battalions have had "initial training," while 57 National Guard battalions, 896 soldiers in each, are still being recruited or "awaiting equipment." Just eight Guard battalions have reached "initial (operating) capability," and the Pentagon acknowledged the Guard's performance has been "uneven."

Training has yet to begin for the 4,800-man civil intervention force, which will help counter a deadly insurgency. And none of the 18,000 border enforcement guards have received any centralised training to date, despite earlier claims they had, according to Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee.

They estimated that 22,700 Iraqi personnel have received enough basic training to make them "minimally effective at their tasks," in contrast to the 100,000 figure cited by Bush.

Reuters (http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=590914&section=news)

[skunk]

Bush and his minions have been crowing about the number of Iraqi Security forces that will join the US troops. At the debate he talked of 100,000 such troops with another 25,000 soon to join them, but is it real?
What I want to know is: is anybody going to challenge him about this lie?

[IJ Reilly]

The day following the debate, NPR did a little debunking exercise on both candidate's claims. This was one of them.

[blackfox]

The day following the debate, NPR did a little debunking exercise on both candidate's claims. This was one of them.
You know, I read the WashPost debunking article the day after the Debate, and although they did mention the basic inaccuracy of Bush's claim(s), with this one in particular, they were rather vague - only mantioning that the number quoted were in various levels of training. I wonder if there was not sufficient time to research the numbers, or if they were being too lazy...and they are my favorite paper.

[solvs]

What I want to know is: is anybody going to challenge him about this lie?
Probably, but it will be lost among the Bushytes rhetoric, just like everything else that talks about the Bush administration's mistakes.

The day following the debate, NPR did a little debunking exercise on both candidate's claims.
And despite the debunking of both candidates, like Saturday Night Live the other night, I'm sure they are part of the Liberal media conspiracy out to bring down Bush, and how dare they be so unpatriotic because we're in a war, and blah, blah, blah.

People are going to believe what they believe, and the rest of us who see problems with both sides get lost in the shuffle. Of course there aren't going to be enough Iraq people to fight against the terrorists, especially when so many of them are joining with the enemy because they feel they are the lesser of 2 evils (as sad as that may seem). But Bush has to try to seem optimistic in the face of such overwhelming odds. Can Kerry overcome this if he gets elected? We don't know. But at least, I think, if he tries to make a difference, that will be enough for me. And for most people.

That's pretty sad if you think about it, but we are ready for a change. No matter how small it may be, it could mean the difference. We need allies, that's all there is to it.