US officials have used The New York Times to put out their doubts about helping Iraq’s armed forces.
The officials have leaked a 120-page classified assessment which concludes that many units are so deeply infiltrated by either Sunni informants or Shia personnel backed by Iran that any American advisors could be in jeopardy.
The report says only about half of Iraq’s operational units are capable enough for American special forces to assist them.
At the same time, the study worried that without an US-led effort to rebuild Iraq’s security forces, Baghdad’s dependence on Iranian-backed militias will increase.
The leak comes amid Administration debate on how to implement President Obama’s commitment, made soon after an insurgent offensive took the cities of Mosul and Tikrit and advanced on Baghdad last month, to send 300 US advisors and special forces.
About half the personnel were deployed in Iraq in the following days.
US officials said the decision this month to rush 200 troops, plus six Apache helicopter gunships and Shadow surveillance drones, to the Baghdad airport was prompted by a classified intelligence assessment that it was vulnerable to attack by fighters of the Islamic State.
The report is being reviewed by General Lloyd J. Austin III, the head of the military’s Central Command, which covers the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. A final draft is expected to be sent to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel this week, for review by President Obama and national security advisors. Recommendations will then be drafted the Central Command and the military’s Joint Staff.
The report summarizes that Iraqi forces have the ability to defend Baghdad, but not necessary hold all of it, especially against a major assault.
The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said last week at a news conference that, while Iraqi security forces had stiffened after their near-collapse last month and were capable of defending Baghdad, they were not capable on their own of launching a counter-offensive and reversing the insurgency’s gains.
One “senior Administration official” said simply to the Times, “It’s a mess.”