Iraqi Security Crews Getting Less Training

[kskiska]

Friday, November 7, 2003; Page A01

Announcing plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by next summer, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that rapid growth in the size of Iraqi security forces made the American cutback possible.

But much of that growth was accomplished by allowing Iraqi policemen and building guards to start work with little or no formal training in democratic standards and relevant job skills, according to officials with the U.S.-led occupation authority. The recent ballooning of reported figures also has raised questions about the reliability of the count.

Of the 60,400 Iraqi policemen now on the job, only 3,500 to 4,000 have been put through a U.S.-run three-week course in ethics and investigative methods , the officials said. An additional 36,000 Iraqis hired to guard ministry buildings, power plants, oil pipelines and other public facilities as part of a new Facilities Protection Service are at best receiving instruction lasting a few days.

(snip)

But the speed at which the Iraqi forces are being created, and the dearth of training, are drawing warnings from lawmakers and others -- as well as expressions of disbelief about the extent of growth so far.

"When the United States announces a schedule for training and deploying Iraqi security officers, then announces the acceleration of that schedule, then accelerates it again, it sends a signal of desperation, not certitude," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "When in the course of days we increase by thousands our estimate of the numbers of Iraqis trained, it sounds like somebody is cooking the books."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9996-2003Nov6.html

[PartyPooper]

1. Who needs training and job skills?

Just ask Bu$H!

:bounce:

[tinnypriv]

2. Guarding pipelines by day, blowing em up by night

YAY IRAQI SECURITY FORCES! ;-)

[Barrett808]

3. Yes, these "security forces" are ready-made for the insurgency to exploit

They'll cause at least as many problems as they solve.

[dbt]

4. Must speed up Iraqnamization!

Must find exit!
Must flee before primaries heat up!
Sheeple beginning to stir!
HELP!!!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. It only takes so mach training to be used as GRENADE FODDER!