Bipartisan Congressional report blasts progress of Iraq forces

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=46986

Bipartisan Congressional report blasts progress of Iraq forces


By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, June 28, 2007

WASHINGTON — The Iraqi military and police are still an “uneven” and inadequate security force despite years of training and more than $19 billion in U.S. funding, according to a report released by Congress on Wednesday.

The bipartisan study, a five-month investigation by members of the House Armed Services Committee, blamed poor planning by the U.S. military as well as corruption and confusion among Iraqi government officials for a poorly functioning force.

Lawmakers from both parties said they have seen progress made in some areas — the security forces total more than 345,000 Iraqis, and training programs and facilities are improving — but they labeled the findings a major disappointment.

“Unfortunately the planning for this mission was poor and has led to a lot of setbacks,” said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., chairman of the committee’s investigations subcommittee. “So now these forces are nowhere near ready to operate independently to secure the country.”

Among other criticisms, the study says not enough emphasis has been placed on training and monitoring Iraqi police forces, labeling them “operationally ineffective” and “riddled with corruption and sectarian influence.”


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The full report is available online at http://armedservices.house.gov/.