US Chiefs: Iraq Not Ready to Hold Ground

In this image released by the U.S. Army, trucks from the 5th Iraqi Army Division enter Baqouba, Iraq, as Iraqi soldiers provide security in this photo made Friday, June 22, 2007. The movement was part of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, a joint effort between U.S. and Iraqi security forces to defeat al-Qaida terrorists and secure the city. (AP Photo/ Sgt. Armando Monroig, US Army, HO) (Sgt. Armando Monroig - AP)

All that sounds quite different from the assurances Bush gave in January _ that Iraqi forces would succeed this time _ when he announced the U.S. buildup.

"In earlier operations, Iraqi and American forces cleared many neighborhoods of terrorists and insurgents, but when our forces moved on to other targets, the killers returned," Bush said. "This time, we'll have the force levels we need to hold the areas that have been cleared."

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Tony Snow struck a different tone: appealing for patience as support dwindles for an open-ended commitment in Iraq. He urged lawmakers to "give the Baghdad security plan a chance to unfold."

Although some Iraqi units appear competent, U.S. officials privately complain that many others still lack ammunition, weapons and an adequate supply network to operate on their own. Leadership in many units is weak, and the force has yet to develop the professional spirit to cope with adversity.

U.S. officials want Iraqi forces to number about 390,000 by the end of the year. That requires training about 20,000 more Iraqi soldiers this year with a further increase in 2008, according to Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who until recently headed the training effort.

The State Department sets the number of those Iraqi security forces that are fully "trained and equipped" at slightly more than 353,000.

The extra numbers are necessary to cover the high rates of absenteeism in the Iraqi military _ including desertions, vacations and AWOLS _ which Dempsey said average about 25 percent among Iraqi units at any given time.

Iraqi troops manning checkpoints often wave through cars carrying women or children without proper searches, U.S. troops complain. Some residents of a contested area south of Baghdad say Iraqi police and soldiers turn a blind eye to insurgents as long as they don't attack their checkpoints.

Nowhere is the challenge more acute than in Baqouba and surrounding Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

In 2005, U.S. officials believed the situation was stable enough in Diyala that they could hand it over to Iraqi security forces. The Americans drew down their troop presence there by nearly two-thirds from 2005 to 2006.

But both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups turned the area into a bloody succession of internal battles and attacks on government-allied forces.

The province is mostly Sunni, but the governor is a Shiite as are most Iraqi troops _ adding to the Sunni sense of alienation. Attacks on U.S. troops there have been relentless.

"A lesson learned is ... do not draw down too quickly when we think there's a glimmer of success," Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, a former battalion commander in Diyala, told reporters this week.

Pittard, who heads the day-to-day effort to train Iraqi security forces, estimated that it will take "a couple of years" before the Iraqis are ready to take full control of their own security.

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Robert H. Reid is correspondent-at-large for The Associated Press and has reported frequently from Iraq since 2003.