So, would someone like to try and make the arguement that going into Iraq was NOT about the oil? On page 20 of the ISG report the phrase I quoted above is the second sentence. I have been reading the ISG report, not for its ideas on how to get out of there..but for the information about how bad it is there..for everyone; our troops and the residents.


The report also admits that many of the Shia militias are government sponsored. This isn't news if you watched a video I linked to last week from a British news group.

"Four of Iraq’s eighteen provinces are highly insecure—Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, and Salah ad Din. These provinces account for about 40 percent of Iraq’s population of 26 million."--That is too many unsecure people don't ya think? 40% of the population is living under the rule of the thugs. No wonder almost 2 million residents of Iraq have said screw it, and moved on out of the country. How many years have we been over there and we have only secured 60% of the country?


"Many military units are under significant strain. Because the harsh conditions in Iraq are wearing out equipment more quickly than anticipated, many units do not have fully functional equipment for training when they redeploy to the United States. An extraordinary amount of sacrifice has been asked of our men and women in uniform, and of their families. The American military has little reserve force to call on if it needs ground forces to respond to other crises around the world."--Our troops are wearing out the equipment faster than we can replace it. This isn't good any way you look at it. This scares the hell out of me, I fear for our troops and their safety even more when they aren't protected as they should be. The planning for this war has just been a complete and utter mess.

"Significant questions remain about the ethnic composition and loyalties of some Iraqi units—specifically, whether they will carry out missions on behalf of national goals instead of a sectarian agenda. Of Iraq’s 10 planned divisions, those that are even-numbered are made up of Iraqis who signed up to serve in a specific area, and they have been reluctant to redeploy to other areas of the country. As a result, elements of the Army have refused to carry out missions".--How are we to trust them when our troops are assigned as advisors to these units in the near future?

• Units lack leadership. They lack the ability to work together and perform at higher levels of organization—the brigade and division level. Leadership training and the experience of leadership are the essential elements to improve performance.

• Units lack equipment. They cannot carry out their missions without adequate equipment. Congress has been generous in funding requests for U.S. troops, but it has resisted fully
funding Iraqi forces. The entire appropriation for Iraqi defense forces for FY 2006 ($3 billion) is less than the United States currently spends in Iraq every two weeks.

• Units lack personnel. Soldiers are on leave one week a month so that they can visit their families and take them their pay. Soldiers are paid in cash because there is no banking
system. Soldiers are given leave liberally and face no penalties for absence without leave. Unit readiness rates are low, often at 50 percent or less.

• Units lack logistics and support. They lack the ability to sustain their operations, the capability to transport supplies and troops, and the capacity to provide their own indirect fire support, close-air support, technical intelligence, and medical evacuation. They will depend on the United States for logistics and support through at least 2007.

The second point shouldn't be a surprise, we can't even provide our own soldiers with what they need in a timely manner.

"Iraqi police cannot control crime, and they routinely engage in sectarian violence, including the unnecessary detention, torture, and targeted execution of Sunni Arab civilians. The police are organized under the Ministry of the Interior, which is confronted by corruption and militia infiltration and lacks control over police in the provinces".--As I said, watch the video I link to in the beginning of this post. Talk about corrupt..Jack Abramoff has nothing on the Ministry of the Interior in Iraq, my dear reader.

And our last bit of info for the day, only because I can not stomach reading anymore of it:

"The Facilities Protection Service poses additional problems. Each Iraqi ministry has an armed unit, ostensibly to guard the ministry’s infrastructure. All together, these units total roughly 145,000 uniformed Iraqis under arms. However, these units have questionable loyalties and capabilities. In the ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Transportation—controlled by Moqtada al-Sadr—the Facilities Protection Service is a source of funding and jobs for the Mahdi Army. One senior U.S. official described the Facilities Protection Service as “incompetent, dysfunctional, or subversive.” Several Iraqis simply referred to them as militias."

I just don't see how anyone can "fix" Iraq. Its corrupt from within. Our current administration refuses to admit how bad it is going over there. People want "happy news" out of Iraq. There isn't any sports fans..there just isn't.

Tags: Terrorism, Politics, Iraq, War on Terror, ISG Report