Ready

Even though I want our troops in Iraq home as soon as possible I believe (just like the author of the article) “When Will They Be Ready?” that it will be years before Iraq can have full control by themselves of their country. Currently only two-thirds of Iraqi troops actually show up for their military duty. Iraq also has a shortage of officers and they have to rely mainly on coalition forces for support. Here recently the Iraqi military had to call for help during an offensive in Basra against Shiite militias loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Both the British and the American forces came to Iraq’s aid at this time. Iraqi forces are often incompetent and have poor discipline. I can’t even imagine what will happen when we totally pull out of Iraq and we leave this Iraqi military in charge. It sounds like they will be overrun and any progress that has been made will be undone.