Growing pains strain Iraq's fledgling army

[Barrett808]

Growing pains strain Iraq's fledgling army
By Michael Martinez Tribune correspondent
Tue May 10, 9:40 AM ET

On the firing range, Staff Sgt. Timothy Tutini bellows at the Iraqi soldiers who can't shoot straight.

Even a platoon leader misses the human silhouette target entirely, despite firing several shots from an assault rifle from only about 25 yards away. In all, four of these 10 Iraqi enlistees fail to qualify in marksmanship from a prone position.

The soldiers blame it on the rifle. Then bad ammo. Those who pass laugh at those who don't. One by one, Tutini uses the same rifles to score bull's-eyes, just to show the soldiers that the problem lies with them.

So went the closing days of U.S. military training for this Iraqi army unit. Were the stakes not so high, it might be a laughing matter.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/chitribts/20050510/ts_chicagotrib/growingpainsstrainiraqsfledglingarmy

[grytpype]

1. What a clusterfuck.

Our entire armed force is busy in an impossible effort to train incompetent Iraqis to defend an Iran-connected Sunni government against an insurgency that we can't beat ourselves.

How the fark did this happen? How did we get here?

And when this effort fails -- and it will -- what happens next?

[ECH1969]

2. Iran-connected Sunni government????

[K-W]

3. If this effort fails -> vietnam

The only two options if Iriqization fails are withdrawl or a draft.