Thursday, September 15, 2005
Good News from Iraq (Including the Car Bombs)
I'm proud of the Iraqi forces in Tal Afar who, with our back-up, cleared out of that largely Turkman city, the terrorists and foreign fighters there. My satisfaction is slightly diminished by the news that many of the terrorists got away. Others reported that most of the Iraqi troops doing the fighting in Tal Afar were Kurds, an ethnic designation that has always included warlike proficiency (in comparison the Kurds are like Germans and the Iraqis are like Italians, or so goes some peoples' thinking). Oh well, you can't have everything.
So I am buoyed by this exchange at a briefing from Col. Robert Brown of the 25th Division:
Q Colonel, Charlie Aldinger with Reuters. Are the Iraqi troops, the army, well enough trained yet to take over?
COL. BROWN: That's such a great question. We have the full gamut or the spectrum of Iraqi troops. We have some that have taken over and have their own areas of operation. We still are there training with them, but they could do it independently. We have two predominantly Sunni battalions that I would put up against any battalion in Iraq. They're absolutely fantastic. We also have battalions that, I think, are about six to eight months away from taking over their areas of operation. They're just newer battalions. They are going through training.
Sunni troops as good as any. Great news!
Even the fact that the terrorists are reduced to blowing up other Iraqis with car bombs and can't stand up and fight or hold on to territory is, to my ears at least, good news, despite the Iraqi suffering. We'll see who gets tired of that strategy first.
So I am buoyed by this exchange at a briefing from Col. Robert Brown of the 25th Division:
Q Colonel, Charlie Aldinger with Reuters. Are the Iraqi troops, the army, well enough trained yet to take over?
COL. BROWN: That's such a great question. We have the full gamut or the spectrum of Iraqi troops. We have some that have taken over and have their own areas of operation. We still are there training with them, but they could do it independently. We have two predominantly Sunni battalions that I would put up against any battalion in Iraq. They're absolutely fantastic. We also have battalions that, I think, are about six to eight months away from taking over their areas of operation. They're just newer battalions. They are going through training.
Sunni troops as good as any. Great news!
Even the fact that the terrorists are reduced to blowing up other Iraqis with car bombs and can't stand up and fight or hold on to territory is, to my ears at least, good news, despite the Iraqi suffering. We'll see who gets tired of that strategy first.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:16 AM 
