In Iraq, $22.5bn can't buy security

29jun07
THE US has sunk more than $US19 billion ($22.5 billion) into training Iraqi forces, but new army and police units still cannot enforce security, a congressional report released yesterday warns.
Four years after the US invasion, 346,500 Iraqi military and police have been trained, but readiness is not evenly spread and there is strong evidence some newly trained troops are committing sectarian violence, the report says.
The study, by a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Armed Services panel, is the latest unflattering assessment of US operations in Iraq, and comes as support ebbs for the White House's Iraq policy among Senate Republicans.
The hugely expensive and complicated US mission to train Iraqi forces has had mixed results, the report says. Iraqi police are particularly problematic.
Though some units are operational, "the Iraqi Security Forces have not yet developed as fast as the coalition planned and ... are not yet ready to take full responsibility for their country's security," the bipartisan report says.
It is also unclear how many of the 346,500 forces trained are still operational, the committee says, warning that the US Defence Department "must focus on personnel and equipment accountability systems".
Oversight and Investigations committee chairman Martin Meehan said: "This bipartisan report shows clearly that the President's plan to stand down our troops as the Iraqis stand up has been a failure to this point."
LinkHere