Once Again, It’s Time to Go Home, Boys

Posted on Jul 30, 2009

U.S. Army / Sgt. Edwin M. Bridges

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers conduct a cordon in a Baghdad neighborhood in April.

In a recently released memo, U.S. Army Col. Timothy R. Reese, a senior adviser to the Iraqi military’s Baghdad command, argued that despite some of the glaring deficiencies that hinder Baghdad’s forces—see issues of management, corruption and political pressure—Iraqi troops are competent enough to contain the insurgent violence raging on in their country and that it is high time “for the U.S. to declare victory and go home.”

The New York Times:

A senior American military adviser in Baghdad has concluded in an unusually blunt memo that the Iraqi forces suffer from deeply entrenched deficiencies but are now capable of protecting the Iraqi government, and that it is time “for the U.S. to declare victory and go home.”

Prepared by Col. Timothy R. Reese, an adviser to the Iraqi military’s Baghdad command, the memorandum asserts that the Iraqi forces have an array of problems, including corruption, poor management and the inability to resist political pressure from Shiite political parties.

For all of these problems, however, Colonel Reese argues that Iraqi forces are competent enough to hold off Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias and other internal threats to the Iraqi government. Extending the American military presence in Iraq beyond 2010, he argues, will do little to improve the Iraqis’ military performance while fueling a growing resentment.

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