Many setbacks on road to an effective Iraqi force

Breathing hard, a portly Iraqi National Guard recruit plods across a dirt field, clutching a fistful of dry grass to prove he made it to the other end and back.

It's a type of recruit US Army trainer Staff Sgt. Toby Nunn knows well.

"Fifty-six-year-old Ahmed wants to feed his family," he says. "The money is alluring and has brought in a lot of people, but then they realize they have to do push-ups - not just drink chai. Also, they may have to shoot another Iraqi."

Out-of-shape recruits, equipment shortages, and "unbelievable" retention problems are just some of the myriad challenges facing Sergeant Nunn, tasked with leading a 16-man team to train an Iraqi National Guard (ING) battalion of 1,000 men from scratch.

The US-led coalition is struggling to build an effective Iraqi security force, a critical element in the US strategy to retake insurgent strongholds such as Fallujah and establish Iraqi government control prior to January elections. The issue has entered the US presidential debate, with Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry this week attacking President Bush over the problem and proposing a broad international alliance to solve it. Mr. Bush responded that NATO is already assisting the training, and NATO announced Wednesday that it would increase its number of military trainers in Iraq, from 50 to up to 300.

According to Pentagon figures, only 90,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained of the more than 270,000 needed. These include police, ING, Army, and border-control forces. This summer, US and Iraqi officials sharply increased the number of security forces they believe are required in Iraq: from 16,000 to 32,000 border guards, 45 to 65 ING battalions, and 90,000 to 135,000 police.

The skill and loyalty of fledgling Iraqi forces varies widely from region to region, and confusion often clouds their specific roles. Facing deadly attacks and at times popular scorn for fighting against other Iraqis, many quit as readily as they sign up, US trainers say.

"With constant contact and death threats, they quit at unbelievable rates," says Nunn, adding that several hundred soldiers have left his battalion over the past few weeks. More than 700 Iraqi security forces have been killed this year.

Still, since the June transfer of authority to an interim government, political pressure has mounted to place them at the forefront of counterinsurgency operations. US commanders predict that by the end of December, most of Iraq will be under local control. In recent months, they have sped up the distribution of key equipment, with 4,300 vehicles, 14,000 radios, 35,000 firearms, and 41,000 sets of body armor delivered since July 1. But serious shortages remain in each category.

This month, Iraqi forces joined in the retaking of the northern city of Tal Afar, clearing mosques that harbored insurgents and weapons caches. At Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's urging, they also played a role in battles against Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia in Najaf in August.

In both cases, however, US troops shouldered the brunt of the fighting. Seeking to shore up the image of Iraqi forces, US military officials have publicly praised Iraqis for acts that US soldiers say were actually performed by GIs, such as the killing of 13 insurgents near Baqubah in July.

US commanders are wary of launching Iraqi forces too soon - a lesson brought home painfully last spring when uprisings erupted in Sunni and Shiite cities nationwide. Iraqi forces all but collapsed, with several units refusing to fight or switching sides.

"If you push the units too far too fast, there's a danger they won't want to go back out there," says a Special Forces captain involved with training an Iraqi battalion in northern Iraq.

In June, the Pentagon assigned Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who led the 101st Airborne Division in invading Iraq, to overhaul the training operation. Across the country, more than a dozen battalion-sized units and headquarters had to be reconstituted, and others started from scratch, military documents show.

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