US on troop reduction in 2006, Iraq army recruits mostly Shiite
Iraq-USA, Politics, 12/31/2005

Indicating to a potential problem that can add to the perceived lack of cohesiveness of the developing new Iraqi social and political landscape, a top US military official indicated that, in addition to political divisions along religious lines, this division has extended to the military where the Shiite dominate in command positions and recruits.

The Sunnis with their strong opposition to the recent interim governments would have been reluctant to join the military, and this would have caused a natural bias in recruitment and advancement. The Sunnis suffered the same phenomena in parliament during the interim elections, when they first did not join, and had weak representation. It is not clear what the long term ramification of such a pattern is, and whether the Iraqi army will be sufficiently developed to be a professional army that can resist the infection of religious and political impulses that can creep into such a national institution, and can develop into future problems.

President George Bush's top military adviser, on a trip that will take him to three continents, says the United States plans to pass on more security responsibilities to Iraqi forces in the coming months, but the number of US troops leaving Iraq in 2006 will depend on how well US commanders on the ground have accessed the situation there.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General Peter Pace said on his way to the United Arab Emirates Thursday that as the Iraqi Army and police gain greater skills they will assume control of ever wider areas of territories regardless of the number of insurgents still there.

Pace had said in Bahrain this week that "We will continue to work with the Iraqi government to see how much more responsibility can be handled on to their armed forces, so that all coalition forces – not just the US – can turn over more and more to the Iraqis and go home."

Pace, on his first trip to the region since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was quoted in Bahrain's Gulf Daily News as saying one-third of Iraq's capital, Baghdad, already is under the complete control of Iraqi forces. During a December 29 press conference at a Bahraini naval facility in Juffair, he said the first US troop reductions would occur now through the end of March.

Acknowledging that violence continues to dominate the news in Baghdad, Army Major General William Webster said until the new Iraqi government "is seated and secure and Iraqi security forces are relatively disciplined and fully trained" some amount of chaos is to be expected.

Webster, who commands the multinational division in Baghdad, said in a December 30 briefing from Iraq that what he notices when he is in the sky above the city of 6 million people is that its borders are expanding with "large numbers of houses being built" on the capital's fringes in almost every direction. "There are people out there building new houses and adding on to their homes that already exist in most every neighborhood," he said, "and that says that there is some money out there and there is also hope for the future."

For those who criticize the pace of the transition, Webster said "the war is being conducted in a very complex combat environment, and, we are moving the ball forward." He also said those under his command – including soldiers from Estonia, Georgia and Macedonia – have noticed that the potency of the insurgency has diminished since the December 15 election.

Asked to clarify his statement Webster said, "Since the elections, the Iraqi insurgency is weaker in terms of the types of attacks they're able to conduct, and, the number of attacks is down." Measured against data assembled in 2004, he said the number of attempted attacks now is higher, but those that are considered to be successful are "down to 10 percent." In 2004, the number of successful attacks ranged between 25 percent and 30 percent.

Webster said regarding treatment of Iraqi detainees by Iraqi security forces that coalition forces are preparing them "to conduct operations within the rule of law."

On the composition of Iraq's security forces, Webster said most of the commanders and recruits in the army and special police are Shiite. "We are working with the Iraqi government to ensure that we have a balanced force that lives with the rule of law," he added.

Webster said it would take time for Iraqis to set aside long-standing loyalties "and to stand up for the nation above all else." During Pace's visit to Abu Dhabi, he pointed to efforts under way to recruit Sunnis, especially into the officer corps.

Pace also visited Qatar and reportedly is making additional stops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti.

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