Iraqi troubles in fighting al Qaeda seem to scream for US assistance that would be small enough not to raise hackles. So far, we are expediting arms shipment (and Iraq has signed a controversial deal with Iran to supply small arms and ammo):
But some observers say weapons should not be the top priority.
"I can’t believe that after 10 years, the U.S. hasn’t given enough in small arms to arm the Iraqi armed forces twice over,” said a former U.S. senior adviser to the Iraqi armed forces, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive topic. “What they need is training and intelligence.”
American training of Iraqi forces stopped when the U.S. military withdrew in 2011, but discussions are underway to revive it.
Training would be great. Do it in another country like Jordan. Or hire ex-Special Forces contractors to do it in Iraq.
But even this isn't the biggest problem, as an Iraqi lieutenant colonel describes:
Hashem described one mission in early January in the Anbar capital of Ramadi, where the army is trying to crush pockets of insurgency, as a “mess.” The aim was to reach a bridge at the end of Street 60, a notorious stronghold for militants and tribesmen who seized the city in January. Troops from four divisions entered after sunset, he said, although only a few had night-vision goggles and the pre-mission briefing was weak.
“There were no maps, there were no details,” he said in an interview last month while on leave, recovering from an injury. The convoy lost eight Humvees after coming under fire and hitting a roadside bomb, he said, and at least one soldier was killed.
“We reached the bridge but it was a disaster,” he said, describing the purpose of the mission as “just to be there.”
The planning was virtually non-existent.
There is no reason that a small planning cell in our embassy, hosting Iraqi military officials, couldn't work on planning missions against al Qaeda using contract ex-special forces as the people on the ground to work with the Iraqis fighting, and which would work with larger US planning bodies back in the United States.
Nobody has ever liked to think of Iraq as the real war against al Qaeda. But al Qaeda keeps raising that inconvenient truth.
