13 October 2005
U.S. Military, Civilian Leaders Highlight Progress in Iraq
Officials say insurgents will continue to pose security challenge
Washington – Even though they are pleased with the steady progress made by newly trained Iraqi security forces, U.S. military experts warn that the counterinsurgency will not simply disappear once Iraq’s military force is fully established or when a new elected government is in place.
That was the October 13 assessment provided by Defense Department officials to reporters at the Pentagon and congressional aides on Capitol Hill just days before the Iraqi constitutional referendum.
“We’re still in the midst of a fight,” Air Force Lieutenant General Victor Renuart said. The picture in Iraq, while not perfect, nevertheless contains positive indicators, he said, such as a maturing Iraqi security force and a population that is increasingly vested in the country's political process.
Renuart, director for strategic plans and policy for the Joint Staff, said Iraqi insurgents would not vanish in the face of military and economic progress. But the fact that more and more Iraqis are providing information on insurgent activities illustrates citizens' desire to be rid of them, he said.
Renuart’s briefing was part of a Bush administration assessment required by Congress every 90 days. The latest Report to Congress Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq (PDF, 43 pages) acknowledges an increase in the average number of insurgent attacks during the period leading up to the October 15 referendum.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman, who also briefed with Renuart, said the 43-page report seeks to answer legitimate questions asked by members of Congress and updates information on trained and equipped Iraqi security forces: 86,900 Army; 200 Air Force; 700 Navy; 68,800 police and highway patrol officers (an increase of 5,500 since the last report); and 35,500 other Interior Ministry personnel.
In the 90 days since the previous report, NATO has overseen a “Train the Trainer” course that produced 24 new Iraqi instructors. “These new instructors will help mold the next generation of Iraqi officers,” according to the new report.
Training Iraqi forces is part of the short-term effort to allow the electoral process to proceed in a secure manner, Renuart said, and to give Iraq the means to defend itself and take on the insurgents in the longer term. In some areas, such as Baghdad’s Sadr City, Iraq forces are already in charge, he said, putting an Iraqi face on local security.
Rodman said the strategy in Iraq is to isolate the extremists, empower the moderates, and bring Sunnis into the political mainstream so the new government will be inclusive. Both Rodman and Renuart predicted that Sunnis will turn out to vote in the draft referendum process in fairly large numbers.
Renuart said Army recruiters have sought to bring more Sunnis into the military, but those efforts have met with mixed success. It is more difficult to recruit Sunni forces in some parts of the country, he said.
All training, however, focuses on developing a robust Iraqi soldier rather than one affiliated with any particular ethnicity, he said. By the time Iraqis go to the polls to vote on the draft constitution, he said, the number of Iraqis assigned to the ministries of Defense and Interior will have climbed to between 199,000 and 200,000.
Renuart said steady progress has been made in training Iraqi Army battalions. In March, he said, 21 battalions were ready to lead. By the end of September, that total had reached 36, and, he said, and by the time of the referendum it is expected to top 39. Another 88 battalions remain at lesser levels of readiness.
Training Iraqi police forces did not begin in earnest until June, according to Renuart. For that reason, he assessed readiness for the Iraqi police as less mature than the Army.
As some 15 million Iraqi registered voters move to the polls this week, Iraqi government forces are providing and inner ring of security, and another 156,000 U.S. forces are in-country for added support.
The latest report to Congress on Iraq says measurable progress has been made toward meeting planned objectives for Iraq include:
• An Iraq that is at peace with its neighbors;
• An Iraq that is an ally in the war against terrorism and will deny safe haven to terrorists;
• An Iraqi government that respects the human rights of all of its citizens; and
• An Iraq that can maintain domestic order.
The previous report to Congress on Iraq’s security and stability was submitted in July. (See related article.)
The full transcript of the briefing is available on the Defense Department Web site.
For more information about U.S. policy, see Iraq Update.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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