Iraq's Phantom Army vs Insurgents

This news reminds me of the US' Vietnam war, where the American sponsored ARVN (Vietnamese Army) and FANK (Cambodian Army) had phantom battalions. The military chiefs pocketed all the salaries and expenses for those phantom battalions, which ran into millions per month. This might explain one of the factors for them collapsing like houses of cards when the Northern army moved south.

Now, in the American created and sponsored Iraqi Army, we hear again of such phantom battalions, or as the reporter called ghost battalions, basically same old American wine in new Iraqi bottle.

A veteran Iraqi politician and member of parliament, Mahmoud Othman claimed he knows of a supposed 2,200 strong unit which actually has only 300 men. He added that when the US referred to an Iraqi army of 150,000 men, there are not more than 40,000.

It’s no wonder that the Iraqi army and police are poorly armed despite massive defence expenditure. One only needs to witness this parlous state of affair at every Iraqi police or army checkpoint. The weapons used by these guards are in general almost-antic Kalashnikovs. The supposedly elite police commandos drive about in elderly utes with no armour. The ministry of the interior recently couldn’t even provide a presidential guard with 50 pistols.

But the interim government spent US$5.2 billion with very little to show for it. He referred to the $300 million purchase of 24 military helicopters from Poland. The manufacturers recommended a usage life of 25 years, but when Iraqi experts examined the helicopters they found them to be 28 years old. Myabe the insurgents don't have to defeat the Iraqi military, whose members are more likely to be killed by helicopter aircrashes.

The corruption started under the US-run Coalition Provisional Authority in 2003 when Iraqis, often with little experience but American flunkies, were appointed to senior ministerial positions. The Iraqis did not act alone. Dr Othman said the Americans were the partners of the Iraqis in all this corruption.

Let’s say I am not surprised. And when the Americans pull out, we will no longer see an Iraq but probably the 3 separate states of oil-rich Kurdistan in the north, oil-rich Chalabi-stan in the south, and what's left of the not-so-oil-rich central region for the Sunnis, as planned by the US strategists.

Related posts:
(1) Iraq: Putting the Fox in charge of the Henhouse
(2) 25 Saddam Husseins in Today’s Iraq!
(3) Let the Looting Begin!
(4) US Laying Grounds for Kurdistan?
(5) US Misuses Iraqi Billions
(6) The Breakup of Iraq?
(7) US Secret Strategy for Iraq