I seem to recall that a while back there was quite a bit of handwringing because so few Iraqi military units had reached a condition of Level 1 readiness. If what Alan Dowd has written in a recent article at Tech Central Station about NATO’s performance in Afghanistan is true, then Canada’s military isn’t at Level 1 readiness, either.
That’s true. Iraqi forces don’t need to be at level 1 readiness to be effective. The problem is not the readiness of the forces or their capability – the problem in Iraq is the loyalty of the forces and their will to prosecute the insurgency. Training can make a solider competent, but cannot make a solider loyal. I don’t understand why US politicians keep debating the numbers and readiness of Iraqi forces. The numbers and readiness are much less important than where those forces place their loyalty and whether they are willing to fight those opposed to the central government – even if that means going after their own ethnic/religious/tribal group.