US Won't Give Iraq "Big Guns". And Admits to "Semi-Permanent" Iraq Bases! [View All]

[leftchick]

This article tells a lot about the real future of Iraq and the US presence. It will be for years. Perhaps decades!

Big Guns For Iraq? Not So Fast

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/weekinreview/28smith.html

<snip>

And that presents a conundrum for American military planners. With those questions up in the air, they have to fear that any heavy arms distributed now could end up aimed at American forces or feeding a growing civil conflict. And the longer Iraq's army has to wait for sophisticated weapons, the longer American forces are likely to be needed in Iraq as a bulwark against chaos.

In public, the commanders cite many reasons for the slow pace of equipping the Iraqis: the supply chain is long, Iraq's soldiers are barely trained and largely untested, and the rebels they face are better fought with rifles than tanks.

In private, some officers acknowledge other concerns, too. "We're worried about civil war or a coup," said a senior American officer in Baghdad charged with outfitting Iraq's new army. He would not agree to be identified because the concerns he was discussing are so sensitive.




What They Have
Iraqi soldiers carry the AK-47 (top), a Russian-designed assault rifle used by armies and guerrilla forces for half a century.

What They Want
The more powerful American-made M4, which American troops carry in Iraq and which can accommodate a laser-aiming device and night-vision sight.



and get this admission of "semi-permanent bases"!

<snip>

At the same time, the Americans are building at least four semi-permanent military bases that could hold 18,000 troops each. These are usually described as way stations on the eventual route home for the Americans, places where they will stay while ever-more-capable Iraqi troops engage the insurgents on their own. But that will clearly take time. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top military commander in Iraq, when asked this month about how the bases would be used, dismissed the question: "You're talking years away." And if Iraq's politics remain unstable, the bases could offer a continuing rationale for not providing heavier weaponry, since the Americans would still be close by for the Iraqis to rely on.