Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq - 6 Sep.
AP summary - Study: U.S. should lower profile in Iraq.
NYTIMES summary: - Panel Sees Moore than a Year Before Iraq Can Handle Security.A panel of retired senior military and police officers recommended Thursday that the United States lighten its footprint in Iraq to counter the image that it's an "occupying force."
The panel said significantly reducing the number of U.S. troops and allowing Iraqi forces to take over more daily combat missions by early next year would be "possible and prudent."
"The force footprint should be adjusted in our view to represent an expeditionary capability and to combat a permanent-force image of today's presence," said retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, who led the 20-member commission.
"This will make an eventual departure much easier," Jones told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Jones' report, released Thursday, concluded that Iraqi security forces would be unable to take control of their country in the next 18 months. If Iraqi troops were to be given more of a lead, as envisioned by the panel, it is still expected U.S. troops would still play a substantial role by providing logistics and other support, as well as continued training ...
A report by an independent commission created by Congress says that it will be at least 12 to 18 months before Iraq’s army and police can take charge of the country’s security, pushing further into the future estimates of when American forces can step back from their leading role.
The finding is the latest in a series of ever-lengthening predictions by American officials about when Iraqi forces might be able to operate independently. In February, a national intelligence estimate also put the timeline at least a year; since 2005, senior American military commanders in Iraq have said that Iraq’s security forces would soon be able to take the leading security role in parts of the country.
The 20-member commission, headed by Gen. James L. Jones of the Marines, now retired, found that the Iraqi armed forces, especially the army, were steadily improving but still suffering from “limited operational effectiveness,” according to a copy of the panel’s report that was being circulated Wednesday in advance of its formal release ...
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