AP News, March 24th, 2007
A raid on suspected terrorists in northern Iraq failed after Iraqi soldiers ran out of gas and couldn't send half their men to the mission, a U.S. commander says.
The incident illustrates "a critical weakness" in the Iraqi security forces, which still have "a way to go" in learning logistics and other soldiering skills, said U.S. Army Col. Stephen M. Twitty.
Twitty commands the 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division in northern Iraq, where the main job is doing counterinsurgency operations and training local forces in intelligence, engineering, medical evacuation and other skills they need to take over the country's security themselves.
"We lost valuable opportunities to pick up a couple of bad guys," Twitty said Friday of the incident, which occurred in January, in which Iraqi forces didn't have the fuel to field all those planned for the operation.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters by video conference from the city of Mosul, Twitty said Iraqi forces are having successes. They recently discovered large caches of munitions, using "their own intelligence and their own soldiers," he said.
"I attribute their success to their increased presence and vigilance," he said.
It will two or three more month before they can conduct full-scale intelligence operation, Twitty said, adding that he has seen great progress in their ability to collect intelligence.
It will be six to eight months of more work on the logistics, he said, adding that Iraqi forces can provide their soldiers with fuel and water to sustain themselves in some situations, but not in others.
They have problems supplying themselves "with fuel and the parts they need to keep their vehicles running" because they haven't learned how to use the Iraqi system, which relies partly on monthly ration coupons for fuel.
He said he recalled two operations in which Iraqi forces were out of fuel, so tankers are now positioned to avoid the problem.
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, agreed with a Defense Department assessment that logistics represented "the most significant shortcoming" for Iraqi forces. Among other problems, it cited illiteracy among troops to be trained in supply, maintenance and related work, a lack of skilled trainers and a shortage of spare parts for the army's motor pool _ 21 types of utility vehicles, for example, from Chevrolets and Nissans to Czech Honkers.
