seruriermarshal
05-15-2004, 08:27 AM
Iraqis now fight alongside U.S.
WASHINGTON - This time, Iraqi soldiers are not running away as U.S.-led troops battle the forces of a renegade cleric in the southern holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
The U.S. went back to square one trying to get Iraqis to fight for their country after much of the force threw down their arms last month when insurgents rose up in Fallujah and other parts of the Sunni triangle near Baghdad.
"There's some respect for the fact that they're standing and fighting," Army Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said of his attempts to stiffen the backs of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.
On his own initiative, Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, scrapped what he called the "bottom-up" formula for building the new Iraqi army by hiring recruits off the street for $54 a month.
Instead, Dempsey resorted to old-fashioned patronage and went to political, religious and clan leaders to get recruits from their private militias that the U.S. had nominally banned.
"I'm looking for political parties who, let's face it, have had militias," Dempsey said, and asking them "to give up their young men who maybe have been part of their militia, give them to me."
Under the new arrangement, Dempsey has a "patron" to complain to if the troops don't perform.
The U.S. was ready for a new approach after huge portions of the 38,000-strong Iraqi army refused orders or deserted during the heavy fighting in April.
Dempsey said "40% walked off the job because they were intimidated, and 10% actually worked against us." In the fierce fight for Fallujah, all but 15 of the 2,200 U.S.-trained Iraqi troops deserted.
In Baghdad yesterday, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Dempsey's new 36th ICDC battalion was standing up to the Mahdi Army of rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
"We found that they performed very well," Dempsey said in a video conference. "Now, why did they stand and fight? They stood and fought because they had this Iraqi pressure from their political party to whom they owed loyalty," Dempsey said.
Dempsey said the U.S. made a mistake in not moving against al-Sadr sooner, but he also said he would be willing to recruit al-Sadr's fighters if they agreed to switch sides.
"If, at some point, they came forward with some idea about how to lay down their arms and be integrated into the group that cares about the future in a positive way, we probably could work something out," Dempsey said.
With News Wire Services
Originally published on May 15, 2004
WASHINGTON - This time, Iraqi soldiers are not running away as U.S.-led troops battle the forces of a renegade cleric in the southern holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
The U.S. went back to square one trying to get Iraqis to fight for their country after much of the force threw down their arms last month when insurgents rose up in Fallujah and other parts of the Sunni triangle near Baghdad.
"There's some respect for the fact that they're standing and fighting," Army Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said of his attempts to stiffen the backs of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.
On his own initiative, Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, scrapped what he called the "bottom-up" formula for building the new Iraqi army by hiring recruits off the street for $54 a month.
Instead, Dempsey resorted to old-fashioned patronage and went to political, religious and clan leaders to get recruits from their private militias that the U.S. had nominally banned.
"I'm looking for political parties who, let's face it, have had militias," Dempsey said, and asking them "to give up their young men who maybe have been part of their militia, give them to me."
Under the new arrangement, Dempsey has a "patron" to complain to if the troops don't perform.
The U.S. was ready for a new approach after huge portions of the 38,000-strong Iraqi army refused orders or deserted during the heavy fighting in April.
Dempsey said "40% walked off the job because they were intimidated, and 10% actually worked against us." In the fierce fight for Fallujah, all but 15 of the 2,200 U.S.-trained Iraqi troops deserted.
In Baghdad yesterday, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Dempsey's new 36th ICDC battalion was standing up to the Mahdi Army of rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
"We found that they performed very well," Dempsey said in a video conference. "Now, why did they stand and fight? They stood and fought because they had this Iraqi pressure from their political party to whom they owed loyalty," Dempsey said.
Dempsey said the U.S. made a mistake in not moving against al-Sadr sooner, but he also said he would be willing to recruit al-Sadr's fighters if they agreed to switch sides.
"If, at some point, they came forward with some idea about how to lay down their arms and be integrated into the group that cares about the future in a positive way, we probably could work something out," Dempsey said.
With News Wire Services
Originally published on May 15, 2004