Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[hap0206]

Rick -- more than you ever wanted to know about winning the war on terror -- lol
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A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.

BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF
Monday, August 30, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

(snip)
Security situation inside Iraq is still precarious, of course, but are some positive developments, too. In Najaf, Iraqi army has been fighting alongside the American forces to crush the al Sadr uprising. Meanwhile, the Iraqi air force, trained by the Americans and the Jordanians, has taken to the skies, with the maiden flight of two Seabird Seeker SB7L-360 reconnaissance aircraft. The once 750-aircraft strong Iraqi air force, destroyed in wars and through neglect, is expected to soon grow from 162 to 500 personnel and take over some of the surveillance missions over Iraq.

NATO's 50-strong Training Implementation Mission in Iraq, led by Dutch Maj. Gen. Carel Hilderink, has began its task of helping the main coalition forces to train the new Iraqi army: "The mission's tasks include liaising with the Iraqi interim government and US-led multinational forces, helping Iraq establish defence and military headquarters and identifying Iraqi personnel for training outside the country." Germany has also pledged to assist in a separate program, training Iraqi military personnel in the United Arab Emirates.

While the NATO partners are only beginning their involvement with Iraqi security forces, the coalition troops already on the ground in Iraq continue to train Iraqi personnel:
Next to a dirt-packed soccer field on an island in the middle of the Tigris River, the men who represent the long-term U.S. exit strategy for Iraq crawl through the dirt. Taking shelter behind a makeshift barricade of stacked sandbags, one of the Iraqi National Guard trainees aims his AK-47 and fires at an invisible enemy. "Bang, bang," he shouts, mimicking the sound his rifle would make if it were loaded. After firing several imaginary rounds, he ducks his head back under the sandbags. "That's bull," U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Haily Darnell, one of the ING drill instructors, shouts--along with several colorful expletives--at the trainee prostrate in the dirt. "That's just bull. Go back and do it again."

Read the full story of how American soldiers at the "ING Island," a 25-acre facility inside the First Infantry Division's headquarters in Tikrit, are training Iraqi recruits.
Other allies also contribute in vital security roles. Bosnia-Herzegovina, also a scene of war not that long ago, is planning to send a mine clearing unit to Iraq. "Defense Minister Nikola Radovanovic said . . . the Balkan country has a moral obligation to help in Iraq after all the international assistance it received during the conflict of the 1990s in the Balkans."

Iraq's porous 2,500-mile border has in the past provided little by way of obstacles for foreign insurgents crossing over to fight the coalition forces. Now, "Iraq is training 15,000 new border guards and hopes to have them in place within six weeks." There are certainly some signs of better controls already in place, as border guards confiscated 100 tank containers and 20 ships that were used to smuggle oil. As well, "Iraqi border and customs police foiled an attempt to smuggle weapon production lines to Iran in eastern Iraq of Diyala. . . . The productions lines, remains of the former Iraqi institution of military industry, were disassembled and hidden under heaps of junk in six 16-ton-cargo cars. The haul included complete lines for manufacturing different kinds of weapons, explosives and small arms."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005543