S U N D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 0 5Iraqi Troop Levels: Bush Liesby Michael in New York on 7/17/2005 03:17:00 PMEveryone's known from the start that US forces won't leaveIraq until the Iraqi people themselves can keep their countrysafe.</p><p> That's why Bush has played games with the number ofIraqi troops that are properly trained.</p><p> He's been purposefullymisleading the American people -- first by throwing out anynumbers he thinks he can get away with and then pretendingthey actually mean something.Bush and his surrogates keep pounding away at the idea that140,000 Iraqi troops have been trained (adding sotto voce thatthis number includes troops broken down into three groups --some ready to battle on their own, some who can fight side byside with the US and the rest who, apparently, have been givenan "I'm an Iraqi soldier" baseball cap and sent on their way).That figure -- 140,000 -- is a lie, plain and simple.</p><p> Bush knowsperfectly well that the facts don't back him up and yet he stoodin front of the American people on national television inprimetime last month and lied.</p><p> As we've said before, only2,500 are fully trained (that is, can fight on their own -- whichis the only standard that matters).</p><p> About 8,900 can fight withour help.</p><p> That means about 130,000 of those troops Bushkeeps mentioning can't fight even with our help.</p><p> So 90% of theIraqi troops are useless in battle.Now more news is coming out.</p><p> A terrific London Review ofBooks article on corruption in Iraq also takes a pass at thoseIraqi troops:This February, the State Department glowingly reportedthat almost 82,000 Iraqi police and 60,000 troops had beentrained.These figures are grossly misleading.</p><p> According to theGAO’s March report to Congress ‘the reported number ofIraqi police is unreliable because the Minister of the Interiordoes not receive consistent and accurate reporting from thepolice forces around the country.</p><p> The data does notexclude police absent from duty.’ As for the army,‘Ministry of Defense reports exclude the absent militarypersonnel from its totals.</p><p> According to DOD officials, thenumber of absentees is probably in the tens ofthousands.’ Furthermore the State Department nolonger reports on whether Iraqi security forces havethe required weapons, vehicles, communicationequipment and body armour.</p><p> Bluntly, ‘US governmentagencies do not report reliable data on the extent to whichIraqi security forces are trained and equipped.’ The GAOfurther found that the Iraqi police are being trained for‘community policing in a permissive security environment’rather than getting ‘paramilitary training for a high-threathostile environment’.</p><p> It’s hardly surprising that close to2000 Iraqi police have been killed.This is all horribly reminiscent of American policy inVietnam.</p><p> American troops are staying in Iraq to stiffen Iraqiforces who are dying in droves in an escalating counter-insurgency war that neither the Americans nor the Iraqiforces are prepared for.</p><p> The Americans originally allocated$5.8 billion to build the Iraqi security forces.</p><p> In Februarythis year, George Bush asked Congress for another $5.7billion to go towards this task.And the Independent in the UK gives further detail about howcorruption has left Iraq with a "ghost army." 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