Or Iraq's 86 Battalions, Only One Ready To Fight

Of Iraq's 86 battalions, only one ready to fight
U.S. officials' assessment alarms Senate committee

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3376177

(Gold9472: Yeah... Yeah... definitely time to bring them home.)

By JOSH WHITE and BRADLEY GRAHAM
Washington Post

WASHINGTON - The number of the Iraqi army's 86 battalions that can fight insurgents without U.S. and coalition help has dropped from three to one, top U.S. generals told Congress on Thursday. They also said the security situation in Iraq is too uncertain to predict large-scale American troop withdrawals anytime soon.

Gen. George Casey, who oversees U.S. forces in Iraq, said there are fewer Iraqi battalions at "Level 1" readiness than there were a few months ago. Although Casey said the number of troops and overall readiness of Iraqi security forces have steadily increased in recent months, and that there has not been a "step backwards," both Republican and Democratic senators expressed deep concern that the United States is not making enough progress against a resilient insurgency.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his commanders Thursday publicly hedged their forecasts of U.S. involvement in Iraq, leaving it unclear when troops will be able to come home or how long it will take before Iraqi security forces can defend their homeland.

On Capitol Hill, Casey and Gen. John Abizaid, who leads the U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraqi forces are growing steadily but that it could be some time before they can take over large portions of the country. The readiness of Iraqi forces is a key element of the U.S. strategy to gradually reduce American troops as Iraqi troops can effectively replace them.

Officials did not say specifically why two battalions are no longer rated at Level 1 and thus unable to operate on their own. They said generally readiness ratings can change for numerous reasons, such as if a commander resigns, or if more training is needed.

Rumsfeld, generals grilled
In a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday afternoon, Rumsfeld and the commanders were pressed for specifics about when troops might withdraw. But the answers were vague, at least the ones provided in public, before a classified briefing began.
"I can tell you, Congressman, it's all going to be conditions-based," Casey said in answering Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., who had sought a "reasonable time frame" for Iraqi troops to take over security duties. "It's not going to be like throwing a switch where all of a sudden, one day, the Iraqis are in charge."

Senators bristled at the disclosure that only one Iraqi army battalion is ready to fight on its own, including rare blunt criticism from Republicans. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he thinks the United States has not had enough troops to fend off insurgents permanently. McCain also chastised Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, who retires as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday, for being overly optimistic because "things have not gone as we had planned or expected nor as we were told by you, General Myers."

Myers replied: "I don't think this committee or the American public has ever heard me say that things are going very well in Iraq. This is a hard struggle."

'Loss of public confidence'
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was discouraged by the lack of readiness by the Iraqi security force. She said that it "contributes to a loss of public confidence in how the war is going," and that "it doesn't feel like progress when we hear today that we have only one Iraqi battalion that is fully capable."
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the committee, said he thinks that if Iraqis do not reach a political solution that is agreeable to minority Sunnis by the end of the year, the United States should consider a timetable for withdrawal.

"That's not setting a date for departure at this time," Levin said. "That's simply conveying clearly and forcefully to the Iraqis that the presence of our forces in Iraq is not unlimited."