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WASHINGTON D.C. (January 17, 2008) - Developing the Iraqi
security forces is hard, slow work, the commander of Multinational
Security Transition Command Iraq said today.
Army Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik told the House Armed Services
Committee today that the Iraqis already have security
responsibility for nine of the country's 18 provinces. Dubik said
the Iraqi security forces will assume internal security
responsibility for the whole country "sometime between 2009 and
2012."
He said the Iraqis will assume responsibility for external
security "in the 2018, 2020 period."
There has been success in Iraq, but that success is mixed with
challenges, the general said.
In 2007, the Iraqi army grew by 55,000 soldiers. This means 15
more battalions were in the lead at the end of the year than at the
beginning of the year. The National Police underwent a total scrub
to purge sectarianism, yet still grew by 7,500, and the regular
Iraqi police force grew by 45,000.
Dubik attributes growth and improvement in the security forces
to the improvement in the overall security situation the surge
brought about, the Iraqi people's rejection of al Qaeda and Shiite
extremists, and the desire of the Iraqi government to the right
size force to handle challenges in the country.
A lot of work remains to be done, Dubik said. "The Iraqi
security force structure and capabilities still lack some
maturity," he said. "The (Iraqi military) has not achieved
self-reliance in all of the areas of logistics, maintenance and
life support."
The Interior and Defense ministries have made progress, "but the
truth is, right now they cannot fix, supply, arm or fuel themselves
completely enough at this point, and this is the major move that we
will have for the next few months to change that up," the general
said.
The Iraqis also lack too many combat enablers. "They have
fielded more and more battalions, but they lack air support, air
mobility, engineer support, indirect-fire support, and other combat
enablers," he said. "Aggressive use of the Foreign Military Sales
program is turning that around, but they still must purchase more
helicopters, mortars, fixed-wing aircraft, artillery, and
(intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets."
Developing leaders is also a problem for the new security
forces. "The Iraqi security forces have added 1,300 officers and
9,900 NCOs," Dubik said. "But, while the numbers are up, there is a
gap in mid-level leadership positions -- particularly in the NCO
and field-grade officer levels. Developing leaders requires not
only training, but time."
Dubik reminded the representatives that the Iraqis are growing
an army while the country is at war, while taking casualties and
while forming a government. "We should not underestimate the
difficulty of growing the security forces," he said.
The work in developing Iraqi security forces is hard and slow,
he said. The Iraqis are proud of the security forces. "They are
proud of themselves; they are in the fight; and they are committed
to their own success," the general said.
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