Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded

Iraqi soldiers secure a road near the shattered Shi'ite's Golden mosque in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, February 24, 2006. Iraq's government put Baghdad under curfew on Friday to try to stop sectarian violence among crowds from rival mosques on the Muslim day of prayer, setting a critical test for its authority and its U.S.-trained forces. REUTERS/Stringer

This is from CNN.Com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday.

The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military.

The competence of the Iraqi military has been cited as a key factor in when U.S. troops will be able to return home.

"As we see more of these Iraqi forces in the lead, we will be able to continue with our stated strategy that says as Iraqi forces stand up, we will stand down," President Bush said last month. (Full story)

The battalion, according to the Pentagon, was downgraded from "level one" to "level two" after a recent quarterly assessment of its capabilities.

"Level one" means the battalion is able to fight on its own; "level two" means it requires support from U.S. troops; and "level three" means it must fight alongside U.S. troops.

Though officials would not cite a specific reason for downgrading the unit, its readiness level has dropped in the wake of a new commander and numerous changes in the combat and support units, officials said.

The battalion is still deployed, and its status as an independent fighting force could be restored any day, Pentagon officials said. It was not clear where the battalion is operating within Iraq.

According to the congressionally mandated Iraq security report released Friday, there are 53 Iraqi battalions at level two status, up from 36 in October. There are 45 battalions at level three, according to the report.

Iraqi army soldiers prepare to enter a house during a 'cordon and knock' operation near the northern Iraqi city of Baiji February 23, 2006. With U.S. army troops from the 101st Airborne Division acting as advisors, Iraqi soldiers searched homes and questioned residents on Thursday near the scene of several recent roadside bombings on the outskirts of Baiji. REUTERS/Bob Strong

Not one Iraqi battalion is capable of fighting without U.S. assistance. In other words, Iraq cannot defend itself--from attacks coming from outside its borders, or from within its borders. There are no Iraqi forces capable of standing up to defend their country.

American troops will not be pulling out this election year--not after the violence that has gripped Iraq through the terror attacks in the past week. Consider this story, titled Iraq Rocked by More Sectarian Violence, just out on Yahoo News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded in a Shiite holy city and 13 members of a Shiite family were shot to death Saturday in a surge of attacks that killed about 50 people despite heightened security to curb Iraq's sectarian violence following the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine.

A man checks the bodies of 12 members of an Iraqi family as they lie on the ground outside a hospital in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad February 25, 2006. Gunmen stormed a house and killed 12 members of the same Shi'ite family, Interior Ministry sources said. The attack came amid heightened sectarian tensions following the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Wednesday that raised fears of civil war. REUTERS/Helmiy al-Azawi

President Bush spoke to seven Iraqi political leaders Saturday in an effort to defuse the sectarian violence that threatens the goal of a self-sufficient Iraq free of U.S. military involvement.

Bush's extraordinary round of early-morning telephone diplomacy involved his first conversations with Iraqi leaders since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra that prompted days of reprisal attacks.

At least one more Sunni mosque was attacked in Baghdad on Saturday after two rockets were fired at a Shiite mosque in Tuz Khormato, north of the capital, the previous night.

Shooting also broke out near the home of a prominent Sunni cleric during the funeral procession for an Al-Arabiya TV correspondent slain in sectarian violence. Police believed the procession was the target.

The violence occurred despite an extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three surrounding provinces. It was lifted at 4 p.m. in most areas, but the government announced a 24-hour ban on vehicular movements in Baghdad and its suburbs starting at 6 a.m. Sunday.


Despite the extra measures, the stretched security forces could not contain attacks that have killed more than 190 people since Wednesday's shrine bombing and pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Political and religious leaders were anxious to contain the violence unleashed by extremists on both sides that have frozen efforts to form a new government that Washington considers essential if it is to start withdrawing U.S. troops this year.

Iraqi Shi'ites gather on a road during a protest in Kut, 172 km (107 miles) south of Baghdad, February 23, 2006. Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites marched across Iraq denouncing the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine, the Golden Mosque, in Samarra. REUTERS/Jaafer Abed

Iraq is now in a state of civil, religious, and ethnic war between the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The current Iraqi government is incapable of quelling this violent dissent--considering that the Iraqi forces are made up of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The differences, hatreds, and old scores to be settled, that each group has against the other is too much for the current Iraqi government to handle--it is a major testament to Saddam Hussein's political skill that he was able to keep the country unified in spite of these fractured undercurrents. If U.S. troops were to pull out now, it would cause Iraq to plunge into civil war. What is especially scary is that an Iraqi civil war could drag Turkey in the north, and Iran in the west. Turkish Kurds would want to join with Iraqi Kurds to create their own independent country--something Turkey is opposed to. And Iran would be dragged into this civil war as a means to gain greater power and influence with the Shiite-controlled territory in southern Iraq. Thus, an Iraqi civil war could become a flashpoint for an even greater Middle Eastern, or possibly a world war.