Free Republic

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during January 2012. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 31 January 2012. The article “Iraqi Army Development Status January 2012” was written separately and will not be addressed here. Highlights in this update include: 8th RGB located; Iraqi Government not implementing agreements on Peshmerga. Little new at Army Day Parade; No contracts from Russia shopping trip. Still looking at L159s but, no contract. 2 OSVs to deliver in third-quarter 2012. New ISOF website.

Peshawar , 16 March 2011 , Pakistan army has ban the unregistered mobile phones in tehsil kabl of swat , yesterday forces announces the order through loudspeakers in Nangoli area mosques. The elders of the area announce the order of security forces, that no body will use unregistered mobile phones for communication, if some body used unregistered mobile phones, they will face 20 thousand rupees fine. Security forces also urged the people of said area that they registered their mobile phones with the mobile companies. According to local sources mobile companies also start campaign in different areas of swat to...

President Bush has endorsed General David Petraeus's recommendation to begin withdrawing 30,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer. Yet the drawdown would only restore troop levels to where they were before the surge began in January 2007. In the final months of 2006, debate in Washington centered on how fast a reduction from pre-surge levels could occur. The Iraq Study Group recommended that approximately half of the 130,000 troops then in Iraq be withdrawn by early 2008. In marked contrast to that and similar proposals, President Bush is now endorsing a step that would mean a return to the...

WASHINGTON - Iraq's security forces will be unable to take control of the country in the next 18 months, and Baghdad's national police force is so rife with corruption it should be scrapped entirely, according to a new independent assessment. The study, led by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, is a sweeping and detailed look at Iraq's security forces that will factor heavily into Congress' upcoming debate on the war. Republicans see success by the Iraqi forces as critical to bringing U.S. troops home, while an increasing number of Democrats say the U.S. should stop training and equipping such...

History, as Marx famously said (by way of paraphrasing Hegel), repeats itself -- "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." A catchy concept, to say the least. And while there's definitely something to it, it's also true that sometimes history does not repeat itself. Take American wars in Japan, the Koreas, Vietnam and Iraq. President Bush, addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, recently made a case -- a flawed case -- for a kind of core continuity linking these disparate conflicts. It's not that he didn't admit there are many differences among them ("There are many differences" among...

HAMPTON ­— A senior airman pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a fellow Air Force enlisted man while their security unit was deployed in Iraq last year. Senior Airman Kyle J. Dalton admitted during a court martial at Langley Air Force Base that he accidently shot and killed Airman 1st Class Carl J. Ware Jr. in their barracks at Camp Bucca, Iraq while playfully pointing a loaded pistol at his bunk mate. Prosecutors dropped murder charged in exchange for the guilty plea.Dalton faces up to 12 years in prison, a reduction to the rank of...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The training of Iraqi security forces has suffered a big "setback" in the past six months, with the army and other forces being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains, Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said Monday. Al-Yawer disputed contentions by U.S. officials, including President Bush, that the training of security forces was gathering speed, resulting in more professional troops. Bush has said the United States will not pull out of Iraq until Iraq's forces can maintain security. In a speech last week, he said Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of...

MNF-I COALITION • Multi-National Force – Iraq was established 15 May 2004 and on the one year anniversary there were 26 countries participating in the Coalition. Also in May 2005, the force consisted of more than 160,000 troops from all the coalition nations. More than 37 countries have participated in the coalition since its inception. • Security Council Resolution 1546 outlines the framework for international involvement in Iraq. The aim of this involvement is to prepare for a democratically elected government and to ensure full Iraqi control of the country and its resources. The only way to achieve this is...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2005 – With elections on the horizon, Iraqi security forces in Iraq's northwest provinces are continuing to grow in ability and confidence, a senior commander in Iraq said today. "The Iraqi security forces continue to make strides in improving security for all Iraqi citizens," Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of Multinational Force Northwest and Task Force Freedom, said during a news conference from Mosul. "Units of the 2nd and 3rd Iraqi Army divisions are conducting more effective combined and independent counterinsurgency operations and they're continuing to develop to be a source of pride for the country...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2005 – A Pentagon report detailing the readiness of Iraqi security forces should not be interpreted to mean that Iraqis aren't meeting expectations, a military official in Baghdad said today. In a briefing from Baghdad, Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said the report -- which shows that the majority of Iraqi forces aren't ready to operate independently -- should be assessed using all the facts and the history of the situation. "The reality is, we've been building an army from scratch for the past year under combat conditions," he said. "These...

Iraq has changed dramatically in the year since my last visit. Earlier this month, I was honored to visit the Coalition leadership in Baghdad, as well as Iraqi Security Forces and U.S. Army and Marine combat units throughout the country. Thanks to an excellent personal security detail, I was able to cover a lot of ground quickly in the extremely violent and tricky environment presented by the ongoing insurgency and the extensive criminal activity faced by military forces, contractors, journalists, as well as the suffering Iraqi civilian population. One thing has not changed in Iraq -- our fighting forces on...

More than 23,000 young Iraqis in the southern province of Dhiqar have responded to a call to set up a new battalion to protect the province. The provincial authorities have been swamped with applications, Governor Aziz Kadhem told the newspaper. He said the authorities had asked for maximum 1,000 volunteers but “we have received more than 23,000 applications so far.” The new force will be based in Nasiriya, the province’s capital and home to more than 550,000 people. Nasiriya, on the Euphrates River, is relatively quiet but, according to Kadhem, the new force is needed to bring stability across the...

Hundreds of airmen began helping the Army run Iraq's biggest POW camp earlier this month, marking what may be the first time the Air Force has guarded enemy prisoners, the San Antonio Express-News has learned. The decision to assign 400 Security Forces troops to Camp Bucca is little known among Army officials in Baghdad and the Pentagon. Both a spokesman with Security Forces, which is headquartered at Lackland AFB, and a well-placed Pentagon official agreed the action was driven largely by the Army's becoming strained by widespread troop deployments. "Military police are a high-demand occupational specialty in both the active...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Iraqi Police Service received 39 of a planned 50 light armored personnel carriers from the Jordanian government recently and will use them in a mechanized police unit planned to counter insurgent activities.The 8th Mechanized Police Brigade (MPB) is a paramilitary, counterinsurgency unit that will deploy to high risk areas. The MPB will comprise three battalions of approximately 1,500 officers. A six week course is currently underway with nearly 800 recruits. The MPB can deploy as a company, battalion or even a brigade-level force. The brigade will be stationed in Central Iraq. The Russian made personnel carrier,...

Iraqi Security Forces, Marines capture 72 Suspected Militants Forward Operating Base, Kalsu, Iraq -- Iraqi police and national guardsmen beat back an insurgent attack on a police station just south of Baghdad on Dec. 12, fueling optimism that the fledgling security forces are growing more confident and capable even in the face of a concerted campaign of intimidation and terror. The early-morning assault on the Rasheed station north of Mahmudiyah by an estimated 10 militants using mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and small-arms posed the biggest test yet for the 507th ING Battalion, which has been operating alongside the 24th...

Muqrin was killed with two associates on Friday An ex-Saudi policeman has become leader of the al-Qaeda militant group in Saudi Arabia, according to media reports from the troubled kingdom. Saleh al-Oufi, 38, will take over from Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who was killed by police on Friday. Saudi security forces have been hunting al-Qaeda members in Riyadh, following the execution of a US hostage. Saudi analysts say the new leader will be a formidable foe as he been a key figure in the group since 1985. Al-Qaeda is believed to have been behind the abduction and beheading of US defence...

In a war on terrorism, intelligence is everything. Knowing the enemy and taking the fight to the enemy is the best way to deal with terrorists, the commander of the Army's 1st Armored Division said during a news conference today in Baghdad. Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said his forces have shifted as the terrorist threats in Baghdad have changed. He also is working with Iraqi security forces to ensure their intelligence effort is up to the task of defending the Iraqi people when sovereignty shifts at the end of June, he added. Dempsey said he is working to adapt his...