| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraqi Special Operations Forces |
| 2005-11-17 |
| November 17, 2005: After nearly two years of effort, Iraq has an effective Special Operations (commando) force. The ISOF (Iraqi Special Operations Forces) consist of one brigade and some 1,400 troops. The brigade has two combat battalions (the Counter-Terrorism Task Force and the Commando battalion) and two support battalions (the Special Operations Support Battalion and Special Operations Training unit). Much of the initial training took place in Jordan, using instructors from the Jordanian commandoes, as well as the U.S. Army Special Forces. The Iraqi commandoes were trained to U.S. standards, using American equipment and tactics. This was done to insure interoperability with American Special Operations troops, and American forces in general. While there were many capable special operations troops in the old Iraqi army, these were almost all Sunni Arabs, and selected with an eye towards their loyalty to Saddam Hussein. These guys were also used for a lot of terrorism operations against the Iraqi people. Because of this, the current Iraqi commando force had to be recruited from scratch. Most of these men are Kurds or Shia Arabs. Screening was thorough, and as a result there have been few failures in training, and hardly any desertions or AWOLs (Absent With Out Leave, which was very common in the old Iraqi army, as well as the current one.) ISOF has been heavily used this year, both in hunting down terrorists, and working with American troops to clear out anti-government forces that still control many towns in western (Sunni Arab) Iraq. But there are only two battalions, and it takes over six months of intense training to get new a recruit ready for the most basic operations. As the Iraqi army grows, and gets more experience, there are more proven men that can be recruited. But ISOF will never be a huge organization. Standards are very high, and the men who are already in the ISOF want to keep it that way. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Rantburg and other blogging sites are probably the only places one would read such an article. The leftish MSM seems to be committed to a military defeat in Iraq. They would like to have the influence they had in Vietnam. This cannot be allowed to happen. If allowed to happen, we will pay for it for years to come. Our children's children's children will pay. I wonder how many ready battalions the regular Iraqi military has? Anyone have an idea? I think down the road, if we stay the course, we are going to see a tremendous success in Iraq. The face of the mideast will be transformed. Ultimately stability will result. |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-11-17 18:41 |
| #1 It's actually amazing to me that the Iraqi forces are as good as they are currently. They have to overcome almost everything their society has pounded into them from birth, not least of which is to think for themselves - a key of the US style - something not encouraged in Islam. Add in that they must learn to trust each other to make a team, another notion utterly foreign to them, and that the flavor of Islam of the guy you're counting on doesn't matter - which is truly over the top. Once they get it, however, it seems they really do have guts and gumption. Some of the stories regards their new-found independence, or nearly so, from heavy US assistance / hand-holding have been very encouraging. Certainly we can all remember the first Fallujah Opn which was aborted due to political stupidity and sabotage of the fledgling Iraqi forces that were to "lead" in that abortion. Look how far they've come since. Hands down, it's the most important thing happening in Iraq today, and the ankle-biters and BDS asstards haven't a clue what a remarkable transformation is occurring - or giving credit to the people doing the job of stripping away the stupidity and replacing it with hardcore training and confidence. Kudos to everyone involved. Keep up the great work. These soldiers will someday be seasoned enough to help their society politically, too - and most (insh'allah, lol) won't be the typical Arab, power hungry and corrupt. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-11-17 10:37 |