Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The U.S. military said today that more than 112,000 Iraqi police and nearly 100,000 Iraqi troops have been trained and equipped so far. While the numbers seem impressive, the greater concern is whether those Iraqi forces are capable of effectively securing their country.

Today's report from the Pentagon says only one battalion -- about 700 Iraqi troops -- has reached level one, meaning the soldiers can operate independently.


--ABC News

I knew about that one-battalion estimate, but this brings into focus.

Amazing, isn't it? It's 31 months since the overthrow of Saddam, and we have a whopping 700 troops fully trained and ready to fight on their own.

That's about 22 a month.

At that rate, the Iraqi military will be able to replace the 160,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq in the year 2592.

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