More Than 1,000 Iraqi Soldiers Quit During Basra Fight

New York Times:

More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.

The desertions in the heat of a major battle cast fresh doubt on the effectiveness of the American-trained Iraqi security forces. The White House has conditioned further withdrawals of American troops on the readiness of the Iraqi military and police.

The crisis created by the desertions and other problems with the Basra operation was serious enough that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki hastily began funneling some 10,000 recruits from local Shiite tribes into his armed forces. That move has already generated anger among Sunni tribesmen whom Mr. Maliki has been much less eager to recruit despite their cooperation with the government in its fight against Sunni insurgents and criminal gangs.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[ChiGuy]

How will we ever stand down, if they can't evoke enough of a sense of patriotism and duty in their people to stand up, and do the GD job?

George W. Bush, you are a failure of a magnitude which this country has never seen before, and likely will never see again.

[Lisette]

Oh yeah Bush and McCain everything is just swell over there.
That poor country!

[Airborne2]

This like surging in reverse...­..........­..........­.......

[HumeSkeptic]

I don't blame those who abandoned. If someone ordered me to shoot at my own countrymen. I would refuse as well.

[Ramus]

me too Hume

[Grannysue]

But but McBush said things are going well.

[TLV]

Maliki is pro-Iranian power. Therefore, the war in Iraq was used as a stepping stone by Maliki to PROTECT Iran, not enable the neo-cons to get to Iran. Maliki will not be in power long once Bush and the generals finally understand this.

From AmericaBlog:
"First of all, and most importantly, the militia that keeps Maliki in power, the Badr Corps, is the single most Iran-connected organization in Iraq. Iran trained and funded Badr, an Iranian-based expat group, for years while Saddam was in power; by contrast, Sadr has a relatively tenuous relationship with Iran because he and his family stuck around in Iraq throughout Saddam's reign and because he's more of an Iraqi nationalist than Iran would like. The idea that Maliki is going around fighting Iranian influence is simply ludicrous.­"

http://www.americablog.com/2008/04/neocon-delusions.html

[Ramus]

and Maliki and Iran are hate Al Quaeda....­so there you have it. The enemy of my enemy is my friend..we are now best friends with Iran because we have the common enemy AQ. Our leaders are just plain dumb and/or maybe they are motivated by profits for the war machine?

[lookingAhead]

SUPPORT THE TROOPS!

Bush you and your cult followers have done a heckva job. Can't wait till 1-20-09, can't get here fast enough!
I hope this war haunts these people till their dying day. But I guess one must have a heart and a soul for that to happen. GREED is what will ultimately destroy this planet.

[BigFootJesus]

When Iraq was created by the British imperialists they purposefully included Sunni,Shia and Kurd areas in order to prevent any unification against their subjugation of the people. The Brits knew there was billions of barrels of oil there and they wanted sole use and they wanted to keep it off the market to increase the price of oil. Iraq has never been what most people think of as a country. This is a very simple explanation I realize but just look up the history.

[nefertiti]

bigfootjesus
Yes Iraq has kurds , shias , sunnis , christians , and Yazidis , the same way america is a melting pot of all sorts of ethnic groups , languages and faiths . Saddam managed to unite those groups and keep them under one strong country that used to be the envy of the middle east in the 70s before the brits and Americans got too greedy and not happy with less obedience from saddam hussein , who managed to eradicate illettracy , improve the heatlh system (eradicate many diseases too ) and do a lot for the country unlike the Bedouinds around him at the time . yes he made a few mistakes but the Human rights abuses in saudi arabia and kuwait and bahrain are not aired to the surface because those leaders are buddies of America .

[tumblewind]

Another glowing example of a nation being force fed Democracy at the point of a gun! I doubt these people have a clue what Democracy is let alone the inclination to fight for it. It's a concept that has been foreign to them for centuries. Now all of a sudden we need to make a democracy out of them. So where is the point here????? Except George W Bush has decided to make them a Democracy to further his all consuming legacy. The whole thing is an exercise in stupidity. Aren't there any intelligent reasoning conservatives in this country?????? One's who are bright enough to figure out this is a waste of time, money and lives????

[ribe8g]

If the Iraqi soldiers would get it together and do more of this
then the quisling government would fall and u.s. would have
to leave. Even bush could not get away with a trooop on every
streetcorner. Get out of Iraq. Now.

[mrJJ]

I realize US special ops have a job to do. But killing our supposed allies police forces doesnt help win hearts & minds. I'm not sure why a contingent of specially trained Iraqi troops in "civillian clothes" couldn't move in & use US forces as support. Unless of course we neglected to form & train such a unit; with all the US taxpayer money being poured into Iraq I find that scenario highly unlikely.

Police sources in the Shi'ite city said five people had been killed in the predawn operation, including four policemen. They said fighting broke out after U.S. troops wearing civilian clothes entered the al-Jamiya district in central Hilla.

http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSL03615032

The source pointed out the province's police "had not been early informed about the attack".
He noted "a patrol police forces sent to the accident scene clashed with the US troops, and was hit with a rocket fired by backing US helicopter"
"Four policemen were killed and three others wounded in addition to two patrol police vehicles were set ablaze", he added.
The police source said "the helicopter pursued the ambulance rushing the injuried to Hilla hospital and fired a rocket, leaving four policemen wounded".

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=75216&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

[Earl]

We pay them to not fight. Kind of like paying farmers to not grow.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19384.htm

Be sure to read the author's bio at the end of the article.

[wayoutleft]

great respect for the heroic antifascist resistance of moqtada and the mahdi army- and those brothers who refused to turn weapons on patriotic iraqi countrymen. may they overcome and drive out the american colonial oppressors.

[john85msy]

This is the chance of a lifetime for Conservatives who feel they have been Bushwacked to make a statement to the GOP by voting for the Democrat in November.

[nicho]

This is a chance for all the conservatives who support the war to run down to the recruiting office and sign up. Unless they're just cowardly phonies that is.

[john85msy]

The Iraqis security/Military forces said Bush tryin to send us to rehab so we said NO!.....NO­!..NO!

[larry278]

ALERT NET HEADLINE NEWS give damned near anybody connected with the so called surge unshirted hell. They say the the Madhi[sp?] army, Al Sadr & assorted militias have graciously handed Al Maliki's head back to him. Al Sadr may be making nice by asking his army/militi not to do walk abouts while bearing arms. Al Sadr could possibly be making nice by rubbing powdered salt into Maliki's wounds.. In case anybody has forgotten ALERT NET HEADLINE NEWS reminds readers that gurella warfare is about surviving to fight another day & other basics Mao told us way, way back. That was a bit much but really rabid critics of W do pile it on.