Sunday, October 30, 2005
News RhetIraq: Lack of Armor for Iraqis
Who: Various US & Iraqi Soldiers
Source: NY Times
Quotes: From news article titled "Lack of Armor Proves Deadly for Iraqi Army" dated 10/30/2005;
At least 209 Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been killed this year in the provincial capital, Baquba, and a swath of the surrounding province, compared with the deaths of eight American soldiers in the same area, according to records released to The New York Times by American military officers who are working with the Iraqi troops.
The American officers attribute the higher Iraqi casualties partly to the lack of vehicle armor and say that insurgents are devising their assaults in response.
"Our higher level of armor obviously protects us quite a bit more, as does the way we operate," Maj. Steven Warren, a spokesman for the Third Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division, said at the team's headquarters at Forward Operating Base Warhorse near Baquba and in comments sent by e-mail.
"The Iraqis put quite a few more people in their trucks, and those trucks aren't armored," Major Warren said. "No armor plus more people in the truck equals a substantially higher casualty rate."
The Army unit in charge of equipping and training the Iraqis, the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, said it was trying to replace much of the Iraqi fleet with new armored trucks.
But it has largely restricted its shopping to American companies that are still swamped by orders for American troops. The unit's biggest initiative, to give the Iraqis 1,500 armored Humvees, will not begin until December, and most will not be built until next summer, military and company officials said.
The Iraqis lack many other items as well, from more powerful weapons that can subdue insurgent attacks to goggles to protect their eyes from shrapnel. A list prepared in August by the transition unit of gear still needed by Iraqi soldiers contained 126 high-priority items, including grenade launchers, sniper rifles and machine guns.
Body armor is also incomplete. After initial delays, a vast majority of Iraqi soldiers have bulletproof vests similar to those worn by American soldiers, officials say. But Pentagon officials declined to say whether they would provide the Iraqis with new, stronger armor plates they are buying for American troops. And some Iraqis are still wearing ragged and much older models, or none at all.
At a checkpoint near Baquba where seven soldiers had been killed in late August, Bassan Mohamad, 26, stood guard without wearing a bulletproof vest.
He said he shared his vest with the soldier across the road. "My friend has it, there," he said, pointing. "There is not enough gear."
In a series of interviews at their Baghdad headquarters and in written responses, officials with the Army unit working with the Iraqis acknowledged that most of their vehicles remained without armor. They said they had dedicated more than $100 million to fortify the trucks with steel plates and other shielding, but had left the effort to local military units and could not say how much had been accomplished.
At the Iraqi Army compound in the town of Kanan near Baquba, Maj. Jaafair Khilel Kather told a group of visiting American officers that his men needed more sophisticated radios like American troops used. He said his men were afraid to use their older-model radios because insurgents were able to break into their frequencies to yell, "We will kill you!"
Source: NY Times
Quotes: From news article titled "Lack of Armor Proves Deadly for Iraqi Army" dated 10/30/2005;
At least 209 Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been killed this year in the provincial capital, Baquba, and a swath of the surrounding province, compared with the deaths of eight American soldiers in the same area, according to records released to The New York Times by American military officers who are working with the Iraqi troops.
The American officers attribute the higher Iraqi casualties partly to the lack of vehicle armor and say that insurgents are devising their assaults in response.
"Our higher level of armor obviously protects us quite a bit more, as does the way we operate," Maj. Steven Warren, a spokesman for the Third Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division, said at the team's headquarters at Forward Operating Base Warhorse near Baquba and in comments sent by e-mail.
"The Iraqis put quite a few more people in their trucks, and those trucks aren't armored," Major Warren said. "No armor plus more people in the truck equals a substantially higher casualty rate."
The Army unit in charge of equipping and training the Iraqis, the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, said it was trying to replace much of the Iraqi fleet with new armored trucks.
But it has largely restricted its shopping to American companies that are still swamped by orders for American troops. The unit's biggest initiative, to give the Iraqis 1,500 armored Humvees, will not begin until December, and most will not be built until next summer, military and company officials said.
The Iraqis lack many other items as well, from more powerful weapons that can subdue insurgent attacks to goggles to protect their eyes from shrapnel. A list prepared in August by the transition unit of gear still needed by Iraqi soldiers contained 126 high-priority items, including grenade launchers, sniper rifles and machine guns.
Body armor is also incomplete. After initial delays, a vast majority of Iraqi soldiers have bulletproof vests similar to those worn by American soldiers, officials say. But Pentagon officials declined to say whether they would provide the Iraqis with new, stronger armor plates they are buying for American troops. And some Iraqis are still wearing ragged and much older models, or none at all.
At a checkpoint near Baquba where seven soldiers had been killed in late August, Bassan Mohamad, 26, stood guard without wearing a bulletproof vest.
He said he shared his vest with the soldier across the road. "My friend has it, there," he said, pointing. "There is not enough gear."
In a series of interviews at their Baghdad headquarters and in written responses, officials with the Army unit working with the Iraqis acknowledged that most of their vehicles remained without armor. They said they had dedicated more than $100 million to fortify the trucks with steel plates and other shielding, but had left the effort to local military units and could not say how much had been accomplished.
At the Iraqi Army compound in the town of Kanan near Baquba, Maj. Jaafair Khilel Kather told a group of visiting American officers that his men needed more sophisticated radios like American troops used. He said his men were afraid to use their older-model radios because insurgents were able to break into their frequencies to yell, "We will kill you!"
