thedrifter
01-12-07, 12:57 PM
Commander: Anbar needs more Iraqi troops
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 12, 2007 11:58:09 EST
Marines in western Iraq are in need of more Iraqi troops, which are largely being focused on the main military priority of securing Baghdad, a Marine commander in Iraq said Friday.
“We’re on the end of the spigot. But we are getting troops out here,” Col. William Crowe, commander of Regimental Combat Team 7, said Friday in a live video briefing with Pentagon reporters.
The unit assumed control of its 33,000-square-mile territory in February 2006. Since then, there has been incremental progress in recruiting, Crowe said.
“When we arrived last January and took over in February, there wasn’t a single Iraqi policeman,” he said.
Today, there are about 3,000, Crowe said.
“We still have a ways to go in recruitment of Iraqi soldiers,” he said. “It’s more appealing to be a policeman, because you can go home at night.”
Iraqi Army soldiers, however, are typically sent out of their region. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense is considering a plan to allow Sunni soldiers in Anbar to stay in the province and close to their families, he said.
RCT-7 is working with two Iraqi Army brigades, but the low number of Iraqi soldiers in those brigades is a limitation, he admitted. Most of the six Iraqi Army battalions have about half the troops they should have, he said.
Recruitment also faces the additional hurdle in that the Iraqi battalions in the Sunni stronghold are mostly Shia.
“The answer for this RCT is Iraqi troops,” he said. “Bring those [Iraqi] battalions up to 80 to 90 percent, then we’ll make mission here.”
Crowe’s remarks came one day after Corps officials announced that two infantry battalions — 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, and 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines — and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, will be extended in the combat zone as part of the U.S. military’s build-up of 21,500 troops in Iraq
Ellie
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 12, 2007 11:58:09 EST
Marines in western Iraq are in need of more Iraqi troops, which are largely being focused on the main military priority of securing Baghdad, a Marine commander in Iraq said Friday.
“We’re on the end of the spigot. But we are getting troops out here,” Col. William Crowe, commander of Regimental Combat Team 7, said Friday in a live video briefing with Pentagon reporters.
The unit assumed control of its 33,000-square-mile territory in February 2006. Since then, there has been incremental progress in recruiting, Crowe said.
“When we arrived last January and took over in February, there wasn’t a single Iraqi policeman,” he said.
Today, there are about 3,000, Crowe said.
“We still have a ways to go in recruitment of Iraqi soldiers,” he said. “It’s more appealing to be a policeman, because you can go home at night.”
Iraqi Army soldiers, however, are typically sent out of their region. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense is considering a plan to allow Sunni soldiers in Anbar to stay in the province and close to their families, he said.
RCT-7 is working with two Iraqi Army brigades, but the low number of Iraqi soldiers in those brigades is a limitation, he admitted. Most of the six Iraqi Army battalions have about half the troops they should have, he said.
Recruitment also faces the additional hurdle in that the Iraqi battalions in the Sunni stronghold are mostly Shia.
“The answer for this RCT is Iraqi troops,” he said. “Bring those [Iraqi] battalions up to 80 to 90 percent, then we’ll make mission here.”
Crowe’s remarks came one day after Corps officials announced that two infantry battalions — 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, and 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines — and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, will be extended in the combat zone as part of the U.S. military’s build-up of 21,500 troops in Iraq
Ellie