Counterterrorism Blog: Independent Operations and the Iraqi Army Counterterrorism Blog: Independent Operations and the Iraqi Army

Counterterrorism Blog: Independent Operations and the Iraqi Army. Interesting article. You keep hearing from the critics of the war that the Iraqis aren't up to fighting their war. But the article pointed out a lot of interesting things.

First, we hear that the Iraqis aren't at Level 1 combat ready. That means that they would have their entire logistics tail, plus all the heavy equipment to operate independantly. Level 2 units gather their own intelligence, conduct their own planning and are deemed "in the lead" during combat operations, and Level 3 units require Coallition forces to operate with them.

But significantly the number of Level 2 units has almost doubled since last summer, from 36 battalions to 75 battalions. Yes, we still provide the helicopter gunships, JDAMs, and heavy armor. But there are a lot of Iraqi units that are taking the lead in operations, with only lighyt support. And most of the time, they don't need gunships, JDAMs, and Abrahms tanks.

In other words, this is last year's argument, made without any reference to or acknowledgement of a very changed reality in Iraq. This is, of course, no different from the constant refrain about getting more body armor for our troops - when at least some Marines have asked to not have to wear as much of it as they have been issued. That argument though is from 2-3 years ago, and, again, ignores what has happened in Iraq since then.