Panel finds mixed results for effort to train Iraqi forces

Congress should require the Defense Department to be more forthcoming with information on the development of native Iraqi security forces, the House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee said in a report released Wednesday.

In its report, entitled, "Stand Up and Be Counted: The Continuing Challenge of Building the Iraqi Security Forces," the panel recommended more regular and detailed accounts by Pentagon leaders on their progress and plans, including a briefing by the end of next month on efforts to shift responsibility for security operations to the Iraqis.

During its review of U.S. efforts to organize and train Iraqi forces, Democrats on the panel complained of "considerable difficulties" in getting information and documents from the Defense Department and chided the Pentagon for refusing to send requested witnesses and barring mid-level active-duty U.S. military officers from testifying on the record about their experience working with the Iraqis.

Wednesday's report, signed by every member of the subcommittee, called for some changes in policy, including a new strategy for the development of Iraqi police forces "as soon as possible."

The panel concluded that the $19 billion expended on organizing, training and equipping Iraqi military and police personnel has yielded only "mixed results." It added, "Despite making significant progress in generating a sizeable national force, the Iraqi Security Forces have not developed as fast as the coalition planned and, as a result, are not yet ready to take responsibility for their nation's security."

The report said some Iraqi units are "willing and capable of engaging the enemy," but asserted the Defense Department cannot say in detail how many of the 346,500 military and police personnel are now capable of taking over security operations.

This first report by the nascent panel, prepared under the direction of outgoing Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Martin Meehan, D-Mass., is not expected to have any immediate impact. Meehan, who is leaving Congress in the next few days to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, said he has forwarded the report to House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and ranking member Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., in the hopes that the full committee will take action on the recommendations.

Meehan said he also sent a copy to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, requesting a response within the next month. Meehan also said the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill could serve as a legislative vehicle for some of the recommendations. Although the House passed the bill last month, Meehan said the measure could be amended during conference negotiations later this year to include the report's findings and recommendations.

The goal, Meehan said, is to "get these recommendations implemented wherever and whenever we can." But Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Todd Akin, R-Mo., acknowledged Wednesday that the panel is still "working through" its strategy.