ziggytrix
Jul 1st, 2006, 08:27 PM
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/11_01/national_news/42288-1.html
June 30, 2006
Iraqi Army progressing
Generals says it will be finished by year's end
by Dennis Ryan
Pentagram staff writer
Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the Iraqi security forces, updated the Pentagon press corps Tuesday. He commands the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq.
"The Iraqi Army will be built by the end of this calendar year," he said. "All of the pieces and parts and processes will be in place by the end of calendar year '06. It will have barracks. It will have training areas. It will have recruiting centers."
The general went on to praise the performance of Iraqi units in the field. He cited their tenacity and courage in some fierce engagements.
Dempsey expressed concern about some of the leaders the new police and soldiers will serve under.
"What worries me in that we then turn them over to a police chief who may have had bad habits from former times or a mid-grade officer who believes that leadership is an entitlement and not a responsibility," he remarked. "And so the constant effort we make is developing leaders who are worthy, frankly, of leading these young that are graduating from the basic courses."
The ranks of Saddam Hussein's old army were culled for officers. Some 3,800 expressed an interest the general said and after screening and a six-week academy some 1,800 former regime officers were accepted into service.
Dempsey said the goal to build a force of 135,000 local police was more than 80 percent completed. He mentioned certain areas such as Baghdad and Al Anbar province as being areas of greatest risk but praised police performance in much of the nation.
Progress is being made on Iraqi control of its 3,600 long kilometer border. The general said 254 of an expected 258 border forts have been built and 25,000 border police have been trained. The force is expected to be 28,000 strong.
The commander was asked about the year-end goal for independent Iraqi battalions.
"It's just not appropriate yet to be thinking in terms of 'independent' anything in Iraq," Dempsey said. "This ... is a nation at war and although they have taken responsibility for battle space -- and large swaths of it -- they have taken responsibility for processes at the national level. They are not independent at this point in time."
The general in response to a question said, "There was some sense of inevitability" about the Iraqi government pardoning insurgents but not war criminals or terrorists and particularly, "there's no reconciling with al Qaeda."
June 30, 2006
Iraqi Army progressing
Generals says it will be finished by year's end
by Dennis Ryan
Pentagram staff writer
Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the Iraqi security forces, updated the Pentagon press corps Tuesday. He commands the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq.
"The Iraqi Army will be built by the end of this calendar year," he said. "All of the pieces and parts and processes will be in place by the end of calendar year '06. It will have barracks. It will have training areas. It will have recruiting centers."
The general went on to praise the performance of Iraqi units in the field. He cited their tenacity and courage in some fierce engagements.
Dempsey expressed concern about some of the leaders the new police and soldiers will serve under.
"What worries me in that we then turn them over to a police chief who may have had bad habits from former times or a mid-grade officer who believes that leadership is an entitlement and not a responsibility," he remarked. "And so the constant effort we make is developing leaders who are worthy, frankly, of leading these young that are graduating from the basic courses."
The ranks of Saddam Hussein's old army were culled for officers. Some 3,800 expressed an interest the general said and after screening and a six-week academy some 1,800 former regime officers were accepted into service.
Dempsey said the goal to build a force of 135,000 local police was more than 80 percent completed. He mentioned certain areas such as Baghdad and Al Anbar province as being areas of greatest risk but praised police performance in much of the nation.
Progress is being made on Iraqi control of its 3,600 long kilometer border. The general said 254 of an expected 258 border forts have been built and 25,000 border police have been trained. The force is expected to be 28,000 strong.
The commander was asked about the year-end goal for independent Iraqi battalions.
"It's just not appropriate yet to be thinking in terms of 'independent' anything in Iraq," Dempsey said. "This ... is a nation at war and although they have taken responsibility for battle space -- and large swaths of it -- they have taken responsibility for processes at the national level. They are not independent at this point in time."
The general in response to a question said, "There was some sense of inevitability" about the Iraqi government pardoning insurgents but not war criminals or terrorists and particularly, "there's no reconciling with al Qaeda."