US welcomes shake-up of Iraqi army

 

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com)- Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel expressed cautious optimism Thursday that a shake-up of the Iraqi army would boost morale and attract Sunnis to the fight against Islamic State jihadists, amid a renewed US effort to train the security forces.

But Hagel faced skeptical US lawmakers who voiced doubts whether the Iraqi troops were up to the task of rolling back the IS militants, after Washington’s previous attempt to train the army over the past decade ended in failure.

“What is it that has changed? Or what did you learn from the fact that we haven’t gotten it right in Afghanistan and we haven’t gotten it right in Iraq?” asked Representative Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat from California.

Hagel said the circumstances were markedly different from the last US intervention in Iraq, including a Baghdad government that appeared ready to embrace Sunni and Kurdish communities and the threat posed by the IS group that had prompted an international response.

“This new minister of defense and this new government is reconstituting the leadership of the Iraqi security forces,” Hagel told the House Armed Services Committee, referring to newly appointed defense minister Khaled al-Obaidi.

He cited Baghdad’s announcement Wednesday that 36 army officers had been sacked, saying the move signaled reform “across the top” of the military. /End/