According to the No. 2 commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, there has been a "significant improvement" in the aim of attackers in the past three months because of training from Iran.
"We have seen in the last three months a significant improvement in the capability of mortarmen and rocketeers to provide accurate fires into the Green Zone and other places and we think this is directly related to training that is conducted in Iran," he said.Coincidentally, according to the White House progress report released July 12th, the Iraqi military readiness to operate independently has declined since President Bush's new strategy was launched in January.
Combat losses, a dearth of officers and senior enlisted personnel, and an Iraqi army that has expanded faster than the equipment available for it have resulted in a "slight reduction" in the number of units designated at Level 1 status, or "capable of independent operations," the report said.Odd that, according to the Bush Administration, the Iranians have successfully trained insurgents while the Pentagon can't seem to get the Iraqi military to "stand up" so we can "stand down."
One reason may be that only a little more than one third of the equipment promised to the Iraqi security forces has actually been delivered.
The Pentagon said that just 14.5 million of the nearly 40 million items ordered by the Ministry of Defense for the Iraqi Army have been delivered. And 22.7 million items have been delivered to the Ministry of Interior for the police, out of 48.1 million ordered.Perhaps the Iraqi military would be able to counter the better aim of the insurgency if it had some of that ammunition. All this, of course, is simply further evidence of the utter incompetence of the Worst President Ever.
Of those totals, the ammunition ordered but not delivered yet to the Iraqi Army is in Iraq at a depot and has not yet been issued to individual military units.
