McClatchy: Soldiers doubt an influx of American troops will benefit Iraqi army

Pirate Smile

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Tue Jan-09-07 11:24 PM
Original message

McClatchy: Soldiers doubt an influx of American troops will benefit Iraqi army

Edited on Tue Jan-09-07 11:35 PM by Pirate Smile

Soldiers doubt an influx of American troops will benefit Iraqi army

U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Jody Creekmore, left, addresses U.S. and Iraqi soldiers before a joint convoy. Creekmore is responsible for helping train Iraqi soldiers in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. (Nancy Youssef/MCT)

By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers

MUQDADIYAH, Iraq -
-snip-
"The Iraqis will accept mediocrity," said Staff Sgt. Luke Alphonso, a U.S. Army medic from Morgan City, La., who's been assigned to train members of Iraq's 5th Army Division for the past six months. "They will let us do everything" for them.
In the end, no matter what the Americans do, the Iraqis will find their own way, the U.S. commander of the trainers here said.

"There is no doubt in my mind that when the coalition does leave that this situation will get resolved within a fairly short period of time. These people will figure it out. It may be ugly. It may be very ugly. But they will figure it out," said Lt. Col. Jody Creekmore, who arrived in Iraq last summer from Huntsville, Ala., leaving behind his three teenage children.

U.S. soldiers here say the Iraqis can fire their weapons and run checkpoints well. But the Iraqis don't agree on what it means to be a soldier in the post-Saddam Hussein military, whom to shoot at and from whom they should defend Iraq.

Five days with American trainers assigned to Muqdadiyah found the Iraqi army there divided, sectarian, underfunded, cold and hungry. It lacks equipment, motivation and a common belief in its mission. The old guard is suspicious of the American Army, which defeated them and now trains them. The young guard is suspicious of the old guard.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16421080.htm

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EFerrari

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Tue Jan-09-07 11:28 PM
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1. McClatchy is about all we have left in the way of corporate media

actually REPORTING.

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Pirate Smile

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Tue Jan-09-07 11:31 PM
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2. True. Have you seen their new Baghdad blog called "Inside Iraq"?

Edited on Tue Jan-09-07 11:33 PM by Pirate Smile

http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq/

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EFerrari

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Tue Jan-09-07 11:35 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. Haven't. Thank you.

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wellst0nev0ter

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Wed Jan-10-07 12:37 AM
Response to Reply #1

4. Fuck Em.

This Christmas they cut off my beloved Star Tribune, because their profit margins decreased by a measly one percent in one year, after years of making profits for them. They sold off the newspaper to some company that cleans up oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. If that's how they support journalism, then I'd like to see them really go after the profession.

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RedEarth

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Wed Jan-10-07 10:28 AM
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5. KR........

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