Rumsfeld downplays loss of Iraqi battalions

Last Update: Saturday, October 1, 2005. 10:45am (AEST)

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday said US-trained Iraqi security forces were improving daily, downplaying that the number of Iraqi battalions able to fight without US help had fallen to one.

"There are an awful lot of people chasing the wrong rabbit here, it seems to me," Mr Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon, when asked about the number of Iraqi battalions that can operate independently.

"The important fact is ... that every day, every week, every month the Iraqi security forces are larger, they're better equipped, they're better trained and they're more experienced. And that is the central fact," Mr Rumsfeld said.

The Australian Government and Pentagon officials have said that creating Iraqi security forces able to defend their own country is a prerequisite to an eventual withdrawal of Australian US forces and from Iraq.

There have been persistent questions about the quality of these forces and the degree to which they have been infiltrated by insurgents.

Mr Rumsfeld said there are 194,000 US-trained Iraqi Army troops and police. A battalion is composed of about 700 soldiers.

One of the few measurements the Pentagon has offered the public to judge the capabilities of Iraqi security forces has been the number of battalions that can go into combat with insurgents without the help of the US military.

During congressional testimony on Thursday, General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, and General John Abizaid, top US commander in the Middle East, said the number of such battalions had dropped since July from three to one, out of the roughly 100 Iraqi battalions.

During his briefing, Mr Rumsfeld initially called that fact "irrelevant," but later amended himself. "Its relevance is minimal," he said.

Not a setback

Gen Casey told the briefing that US forces will continue to have to accompany Iraqi security battalions for "a couple of years, for sure".

He said the number of Iraqi battalions capable of taking the lead in counter-insurgency operations with US support had doubled since May.

He declined to say how many there were in this category, saying that information was classified.

He said it will be "a couple of months" before more Iraqi battalions achieve the ability to fight on their own.

Gen Casey did not explain the reason for the decline from three to one battalions that can operate on their own, but said that "we purposely set a very high standard" for these units.

"No, it's not a setback. I mean, unit readiness is going to fluctuate and it is such a small number. And at this stage, I'm not concerned about small numbers," Gen Casey said.

"Next year, at this time, I'll be much more concerned about it. Right now, I'm not," he said.

Gen Casey also expressed concern about diminishing US public support for the war, as shown in recent opinion polls, suggesting this was exactly what insurgents wanted.

"Look, you guys read the polls just like I do and this is a terror campaign. And they are trying to create the impression that we and the Iraqis cannot succeed in Iraq," he said.

Mr Rumsfeld added that the insurgents "know what they're doing. They're focusing on public opinion in the United States. They're trying to do things that are dramatic and affect that".

"They can't win a battle," Mr Rumsfeld said.

"They can't win a war out in the field. The only place they can win is in a test of wills, if people say, 'The cost is too high and the time is too long'."

-Reuters

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