Envoys discuss security handover with Iraq (US and UK)

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and British ambassadors met senior Iraqi ministers on Tuesday to discuss the transfer of security from foreign to Iraqi forces, a process that lays the groundwork for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

It was the first meeting of a body dubbed the "commission for conditions-based transition", which will decide over the coming months which parts of Iraq are safe enough for Iraqi forces to take over and let foreign troops pull back.

The body, made up of Iraq's interior and defence ministers, its national security adviser, the U.S. and British ambassadors, and the top foreign military commanders, said it would make its first recommendations to Iraq's prime minister next month.

In a statement, the commission said it had agreed the main consideration for any transfer of responsibility was the capacity of Iraqi forces to handle security alone.

A U.S. military report issued last month revealed that more than half of Iraq's army battalions and police units were currently incapable of operating without U.S. support.

(more)

http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=810704§ion=news&src=rss/uk/topNews

[Gloria]

1. Didn't Jon Stewart on the DS rerun last nite cite something like

only 3 battalions out of 170+ were actually ready?????

[Greeby]

2. Vietnamization redux

Deja vu all over again :eyes:

(Well, not for me, wasn't alive at the time)

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. I would guess their government would last a couple of days

before Sunni militias took over by force.

[Barrett808]

4. The Shi'a militias could probably give them a run for their money, but...

...the Iraqi police and military are thoroughly infiltrated by the insurgency, so a de facto takeover could happen relatively quietly.