The US Army is hastening efforts to hand over command of military posts to Iraqi forces after parliamentary elections that many hope will produce a more stable government and set the stage for US soldiers to begin going home.
Seventeen of the 109 former Iraqi bases used by coalition troops since the 2003 invasion have already been transferred to Iraqi command, while 30 have been shut down, Army officers say. The Pentagon is pushing for more in the coming months.
"Eventually they're all going to go," said Major John Calahan, executive officer of the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade. "The ultimate plan is that we're going to have less presence in Iraq until finally we're gone."
Defense analysts caution it may not be a fast process. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made similar comments in Iraq this week, even as he said two Army brigades would not deploy to Iraq as planned. Commanders said that would cut US troop strength by 7,000, to around 130,000.
Despite the step-up in efforts to turn more security duties over to Iraqi units, Calahan said concerns linger over the readiness of those troops.
Some Iraqi forces have excelled and fought well alongside Americans, but other units have been hamstrung by weapons shortages and some have had their soldiers caught working with insurgents.
In some places, Iraqi troops have failed to report for duty, gotten caught with bomb-making materials or allowed insurgents to attack US convoys or other coalition soldiers by looking the other way, Americans say.
That reality has fueled an undercurrent of distrust for Iraqi soldiers.
"A lot of them want to do a good job, but then you have those who only show up for a paycheck," said Sergeant Paul Hare, 40, of Tucumcari, New Mexico, a Humvee gunner in the 101st Airborne's 33rd Cavalry Regiment. "I don't trust a one of them."
The plan for turning military posts over to Iraqis has been in place for months, but Army officers say the administration of US President George W. Bush has quickened the timeline.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
RSS