Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended the performance of Iraqi security forces in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Friday, writing that “many thousands of Iraqi security personnel are performing exceptionally.”
“I am deeply impressed by the Iraqis’ performance, just as I am of the American men and women in uniform,” he wrote.
New security forces have performed unevenly so far, sometimes faring well in battle but sometimes running away. In a few cases, spies have infiltrated the new units. Public trust has also been eroded by a reputation for heavy-handed tactics.
'Heralded, not denigrated'
The defense secretary said many observers have focused on setbacks with respect to the Iraqi security forces. He conceded that “the performance of units has been somewhat mixed. Early on, in particular, some forces did not perform as well as hoped.”
But given the dangers they face, Rumsfeld said, “Their service should be heralded, not denigrated.”
Since their inception, Rumsfeld said, the size and capabilities of Iraqi forces have grown steadily. “Some 136,000 Iraqis currently serve alongside coalition forces,” he wrote.
Last month, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dismissed as “malarkey” a figure of 120,000 trained Iraqis cited by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearing. He said the number of trained members of the security forces was 4,000.
On Thursday, speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he could not given an estimate of how many of the roughly 130,000 Iraqi forces were sufficiently trained and equipped.
A new phase for coalition troops
Rumsfeld said the U.S.-led forces in Iraq are entering a new phase.
“The coalition will continue to work with Iraqis to battle the insurgency. But it will increasingly shift its efforts to assisting the training of Iraqis to defend their country, rather than Iraqis assisting the coalition,” he wrote.
“Ultimately, the coalition will not be the ones that will defeat the extremists. It will be the Iraqi people that will do so,” he wrote. “Iraq belongs to them and they have the ultimate responsibility for restoring stability to their country. And when conditions, not arbitrary timelines, permit, our coalition will reduce its presence in Iraq.”