Insurgents are still being insurgents when hired by the Iraqi Police, according to a U.S. study:
“Insurgents and other criminals have infiltrated Iraqi police ranks due to poor screening procedures by U.S. forces, according to a joint report released Monday by the U.S. Defense Department and State Department. “Recruitment and vetting procedures are faulty,” said the report from the inspectors general of both departments…
The 100-page report went on to say there was “sufficient evidence to conclude” that insurgents were “among the ranks of the Iraq police service.” Insurgents have carried out numerous bombings at Iraqi police and army recruiting centers — many of the attacks occurring as potential recruits waited in long lines outside.
More than 1,600 police have been killed in attacks in the past year, the report said…”
But we can’t even define “fully trained Iraqi police,” according to the study:
“To date, there are about 63,000 fully trained Iraqi police, according to Pentagon officials. But the report acknowledged the difficulty in defining the number of police who are trained and equipped. “This emphasis on numbers overshadows the attention that should be given to the qualitative performance of those trained,” the report said. “There is a perception that training programs have produced ‘cannon fodder’ — numbers of nominal policemen incapable of defending themselves, let alone the Iraqi public.”
Then where did the 63,000 police come in? Were the 1600 iraqi policemen who died not fully trained? Which numbers are right? And if we can’t get the numbers right, how can the U.S. meet its goal of 135,000 trained and equipped police by 2006? I certainly hope the U.S. government won’t tell us that they’ve met their goals by slapping some fake rifles on a group of Iraqis who can’t even read or write.
Reading news of constant insurgent attacks and being informed that the insurgency is in its “last throes” or even 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 years gives me little confidence that this administration has a viable exit strategy from Iraq.
How much more bungling do we need to see before we realize that this administration has a poorly thought out exit strategy?
Hopefully, someone will Be Held Accountable for these unforgivable mistakes made during the course of the war, or else more people will die and more fingers will be pointed, all after the fact. All we need is a Viable Exit Strategy, and the terrorists will leave, Iraq will become a Paradise, and peace will reign across the land. Forever. Lord knows, it’s the first time anyone’s ever died after the major battles of a war.
Of course, nobody really knows what a Viable Exit Strategy (VES) is, what it looks like, or where one can be found. In fact, nobody’s really suggested one outside of setting a “timetable,” which makes about as much sense as giving a burglar your work schedule so he knows when you’ll be out of the house.
On that great day when someone DOES implement that VES, will more people be killed? If so, then it’s clearly not a VES, and another one will have to be manufactured, hopefully by Monday morning when everybody knows what should have been done and can say so.
The question here is “why did so many Iraqi police die?” If the answer is related to inadequate planning by the Bush administration to deal with post-war realities, then this is worthy of discussion and debate. This report shows that inadequate methods dealing with Iraqi police recruitment directly led to Iraqi police deaths.
When it comes to the lives of human beings, I think the exit strategy from Iraq is a worthy point of debate. Debating the training program of the Iraqi police is far from Monday Morning Quarterbacking. This report shows the failures of a training program that started long after we invaded and occupied the country. This administration had a long time to think about this and still couldn’t get it right. I bring this into the larger issue of this administration’s failures in regards to most aspects of the war, including what to do after Hussein is no longer in power. We reserve the right to question our duly elected representative’s policies in regards to this war. Exit strategies are part of policy.
Nobody in their right mind would think that war doesn’t lead to deaths. Every exit strategy entails death. The main problem here is whether failures in planning for a post-war Iraq and the exit strategy led to more deaths than necessary. It’s clear from the report that this administration failed yet again. The Bush administration’s failures are lethal to Iraqis trying to wrestle their country back from insurgents.
It’s the never-ending defeatism that calls every death a failure that I find ludicrous; nobody in his right mind would constantly and consistently point to every single happenstance in an ongoing battle and bugle “Failure! They didn’t plan!” Especially when people are dying. Especially when no one has any alternative plan. But I see it every single day. It’s an obviously partisan view of modern warfare, filtered through a lens devoted to seeing only one perspective. And it’s a sickening disservice to everyone currently serving in uniform to characterize what they’re so desperately trying to accomplish as a “failure.”
So you’re right: it’s not Monday morning quarterbacking. It’s not even Monday morning yet. It’s your mother-in-law sitting in the backseat and telling you how to drive while she roots around in her pocketbook for a cough drop. There’s about as much value to one as the other.
(Apologies to Donna.)
why would you believe they’d have a viable exit strategy when they had such an insidious and mendacious entry strategy.