One of the best Iraqi units finds it still depends on American forces to move forward

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Iraqi soldiers work on one of their few Humvees with parts scavenged from the unit's American advisors. Though part of an elite squad designated as a quick-reaction force, the unit is intrinsically dependent on U.S. support.


One of the best Iraqi units finds it still depends on American forces to move forward
By Michael Gisick, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, March 28, 2008

BEYJT, Iraq — Sgt. Majid Hamid Khethayer and three other Iraqi army scouts step from a Bradley fighting vehicle into the moonlit desert, a pale other world. Following two U.S. Marines, they fan out quietly toward the edges of a village.

For the next two hours, they do what scouts do, lying on the hard desert floor, watching. They had sucked down a few last cigarettes before they left for the hourlong ride from their base, and now they neither smoke nor speak.

An elite squad drawn from the 1st Iraqi Army Division, these soldiers may be among the best in the Iraqi armed forces. Their division, based in Anbar province, was redesignated this month as a quick-reaction force and is already being sent to hot spots around the country.

The division’s 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade arrived in Diyala province in early March and took a key role in operations that U.S. officers credit with severely disrupting a large al-Qaida cell here. But while those operations highlighted an expanding role for the Iraqi unit, they also demonstrated how intrinsically dependent on U.S. support even the best of the Iraqi army remains.

Air and artillery support depend entirely on the Americans. And with just 11 Humvees for 655 men, the Iraqi battalion often relies on a troop from the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based nearby, just to get into battle.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53648