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Marine Corps Maj. Gen. W.E. Gaskin said there has been substantial progress in Iraq's ability to recruit and train its military. But those positive steps have not been matched by badly needed improvements to the country's outdated network for maintaining and repairing critical war-fighting gear.
"Realistically, if things are going the way they're going now, you'd say a year from now the Iraqis training-wise would be ready to do the types of operations we expect of them," Gaskin said Monday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I am not as optimistic about them being able to fix the logistics system."
Gaskin, who leads American forces in Anbar province, said Iraq's ministry of defense relies largely on private Iraqi contractors for repairs to key pieces of military equipment, such as Humvees, and for delivering supplies.
When vehicles and weapons break down, repair requests are shuttled through a cumbersome and time-consuming approval process. By contrast, the American logistics system is largely automated and operated by military personnel.
"There's no automation here," Gaskin said of the Iraqi system. "This is still hand-jamming. You need a part, you write it up, you send it up; it's a very bureaucratic and stovepiped sort of thing."
Making matters worse, many of the Iraqis who could make this flawed process function were lost when the country's army was disbanded in May 2003 by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
"So now you're trying to grow that experience, or find some of the old technocrats who understood the logistics system," Gaskin said. "That's why it's such a slow pace."
Gaskin's comments come six weeks before Army Gen. David Petraeus is scheduled to deliver a report to Congress on the success of the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq. The assessment from Petraeus is viewed as a critical piece in the debate over the unpopular war and could lead to a more intense effort by lawmakers on Capitol Hill to approve a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops.
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 In a July 12 progress report from the White House, Bush administration officials said the Iraqi government has made "unsatisfactory progress" toward increasing the number of Iraqi security forces that can operate independently. That's partly due to a lack of internal capacity for supporting and sustaining these forces.
Gaskin said U.S. troops and advisers will continue to help the Iraqis make the fixes they need to stay battle ready. But that's a "Band-Aid," not a long-term solution, he said.
"What you're really looking for is some sort of sustained logistical base," Gaskin said. "It's moving, but sometimes it's like watching paint dry."
According to Gaskin, these challenges shouldn't obscure substantial gains in the numbers of Iraqi soldiers and police officers in Anbar, the country's westernmost province and one of the most difficult places to develop an environment of security.
There are now 21,000 Iraqi police in Anbar and 16,500 Iraqi military personnel, he said. By September, Gaskin expects 2,100 more soldiers within the ranks in Anbar.
Those gains, however, have to be matched by a logistics system that can keep them equipped and operating in the field.
"Admittedly, no one anticipated having as many Iraqi soldiers and police as we have here in Anbar," Gaskin said. "Without proper logistics, you cannot fight continuously. ... To be self-sufficient, they have to have these systems."
[Associated Press;
by Richard Lardner]
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