Training Iraqi forces top US priority for 2006, general says
Iraq-USA, Politics, 1/2/2006

Training Iraqi forces to defend their country and eliminating the insurgency are the primary US objectives in Iraq for 2006, says Marine General Peter Pace, US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Pace yesterday told ABC's This Week that the United States wants "to make sure that the Iraqi armed forces and Iraqi police are capable of defending their own land" and said "they're getting much more capable at doing that."

Pace is currently in Iraq as part of a trip that will take him to three continents to visit with US troops. He recently made visits to Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and plans to visit bases in Afghanistan and Djibouti.

According to Pace, the Iraqi government must be inclusive -- with an inclusive military and police force -- if it is to succeed.

"There is a concerted effort right now by the Iraqi government to reach out to the former Sunni military officers...who want to rejoin the armed forces of their country properly vetted so that we get the right people back in the armed forces," he said.

Pace cautioned against relying heavily on the sectarian militias in Iraq because "they have loyalties not necessarily to the central government." He stressed the importance of having "a central government with an army and police that are trained and equipped by that central government and are loyal to it," and said that "those militias then need to either become part of the standing army, part of the standing police force, or they need to disband."

As the new Iraqi government takes shape and Iraqi forces take on more responsibility for defending the country, Pace said, hopefully "a large number of those who might become part of the insurgency... will see that being part of the future of Iraq is going to be much better for them than becoming part of the insurgency."

The general urged the international community "to encourage the Iraqi people, to support the Iraqi people, to help them find their way to proper use of a democracy that's in their hands and is theirs to use for the betterment of their own people."

Democracy "is not a clean, precise process," he said, but it is "one that is the best hope for all of us as a way to be representative of the needs of all the people."

Previous Stories:
  US, UN welcome international review of Iraqi elections   (12/31/2005)
  US on troop reduction in 2006, Iraq army recruits mostly Shiite   (12/31/2005)
  US opposes reconsidering Iraqi elections   (12/30/2005)

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