Regardless of what you think about President Bush, congress, or the Easter Bunny you have to agree that the insurgents in Iraq must be defeated. If they are not they will only grow stronger and cause more damage on the world (I don't want to write a book here, I'll tackle this subject on another day!).
There is much controversy around the president's decision to add troops to Baghdad to "back up" Iraqi forces in a strong attempt to crush the insurgents. I am somewhat conflicted about this decision. They need to take out these insurgents, but this new plan gives a lot of responsibility to the weak Iraqi army and police.
A New York Times article "In a New Joint U.S. - Iraqi Patrol, the Americans Go First," by Damien Cave and James Glanz, printed on Jan. 25 discussed a 'trial run' of how the new troops in Iraq are going to operate to get rid of the pesky insurgents. I wanted to add a link to the article but it is only available on "TimesSelect" so I can't add it here. The article described a day in which US troops were to assist Iraqi forces in house to house sweeps on deadly Haifa Street in Badhdad. On the day when the Iraqis were to lead searches of houses in the run down area the Iraqis didn't show up on time, the Americans went in alone. When the Iraqis did arrive "it was with the air of a class outing, cheering and laughing as the Americans blew locks off doors with shotguns."
Throughout the day the troops were under fire from all different angles, needing smoke grenades and Bradley fighting vehicles to provide cover. The Iraqis didn't seem to really care about the dangerous operation. "Many of the Iraqi units that showed up late never seemed to take the task seriously, searching haphazardly, breaking dishes and rifling through personal CD collections in the apartments." The Iraqis were searching no more than half of the apartments they were designated to search. And at one point the Iraqis completely disappeared, and gunfire begun to be showered on the US troops..."the soldiers began to worry that the Iraqi soldiers were firing at them."
"One Iraqi soldier in the ally pointed his rifle at an American reporter and pulled the trigger. There was only a click: the weapon had no ammunition. The soldier laughed at his joke."
Now I don't know if this article is only telling half (or slanted left) of the story, but it seems to me that the Iraqis aren't up to the task.
There is much controversy around the president's decision to add troops to Baghdad to "back up" Iraqi forces in a strong attempt to crush the insurgents. I am somewhat conflicted about this decision. They need to take out these insurgents, but this new plan gives a lot of responsibility to the weak Iraqi army and police.
A New York Times article "In a New Joint U.S. - Iraqi Patrol, the Americans Go First," by Damien Cave and James Glanz, printed on Jan. 25 discussed a 'trial run' of how the new troops in Iraq are going to operate to get rid of the pesky insurgents. I wanted to add a link to the article but it is only available on "TimesSelect" so I can't add it here. The article described a day in which US troops were to assist Iraqi forces in house to house sweeps on deadly Haifa Street in Badhdad. On the day when the Iraqis were to lead searches of houses in the run down area the Iraqis didn't show up on time, the Americans went in alone. When the Iraqis did arrive "it was with the air of a class outing, cheering and laughing as the Americans blew locks off doors with shotguns."
Throughout the day the troops were under fire from all different angles, needing smoke grenades and Bradley fighting vehicles to provide cover. The Iraqis didn't seem to really care about the dangerous operation. "Many of the Iraqi units that showed up late never seemed to take the task seriously, searching haphazardly, breaking dishes and rifling through personal CD collections in the apartments." The Iraqis were searching no more than half of the apartments they were designated to search. And at one point the Iraqis completely disappeared, and gunfire begun to be showered on the US troops..."the soldiers began to worry that the Iraqi soldiers were firing at them."
"One Iraqi soldier in the ally pointed his rifle at an American reporter and pulled the trigger. There was only a click: the weapon had no ammunition. The soldier laughed at his joke."
Now I don't know if this article is only telling half (or slanted left) of the story, but it seems to me that the Iraqis aren't up to the task.
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