Iraqi army is ready to fight in Fallujah, U.S. officers say

The Iraqi soliders want more equipment, and the U.S. says its working on it.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Although some U.S. soldiers grumble about the skills of their Iraqi allies, American officers insist that the interim government's new army is ready to play an important role in the battle of Fallujah.
"They have military objectives. They have a no-kidding mission," said Marine Capt. Jamie Farrelly, 42, of Roanoke, Va., a military adviser to the Iraqi army's 4th Battalion, 1st Brigade.
The Iraqis are expected to rush houses, search for explosives and set up combat checkpoints -- tasks that Iraqi soldiers could not be fully trusted with seven months ago.
Improved reputation
In April, some Iraqi civil defense troops refused to join American units in combat in Fallujah, but Iraqi soldiers improved their fighting reputation in later months when they helped U.S. troops retake Najaf from the al-Mahdi army and conducted house-to-house raids against Shiite insurgent leadership in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
Some U.S. soldiers are not fully convinced.
"They're getting better," offered one American enlistee, who would not give his name. "At first, they would fire wildly. Some showed up wearing sandals."
Still, American officers say they are confident in the Iraqis' training and resolve.
"We're going in with them," said Marine 1st Sgt. David Bradford, 42, of Monroe, La., a military adviser. "And I have no worries."
U.S. officers cite the Iraqis' special skills.
"There are things that they do better than any of my people do," said Lt. Col. Jim Rainey, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division's 7th Cavalry Regiment. "When one of my 20-year-old kids from Chicago sees an Arab, they see an Arab. When an Iraqi Kurd sees an Arab, they see Sunni or Shiite, threatening or not, hiding a weapon or not."
Perceived differently
In Najaf, Rainey said, Iraqi army troops were perceived differently when they knocked on the door of a neutral family and could secure mosques that Americans dared not enter.
But in some ways, members of the Iraqi army and police may be in more danger than the U.S. soldiers. Over the weekend, insurgent attacks on police stations left 52 people dead, many of them officers. And in one of the most horrific attacks of the war, 49 soldiers were ambushed and massacred on their way to home leave Oct. 24.
Such attacks have had their desired effect in certain cases, prompting some soldiers and police to desert.
Iraqi army Sgt. Abu Ragad, 35, part of the force expected to fight in Fallujah, travels home to Baghdad only in civilian clothes. A father of six, he tells as few people as possible what he does for a living.
Still, Iraqi troops appeared confident during recent exercises outside Fallujah, where they practiced getting into and out of a Bradley fighting vehicle under combat conditions.
Less equipment
The Iraqi soldiers have less equipment than the Americans, traveling in open trucks behind U.S. vehicles freighted with thick armor.
When an Iraqi Defense Ministry official visited them, Abu Mustafa said they raised their concerns.
"We are fighting with rifles and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] when our enemies are fighting with rockets and mortars. We asked for tanks and artillery. We need airplanes as well. He promised they were working on it."