.Tough streets await Iraq's NATO-trained cadets
BAGHDAD, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The proud mothers tossed candies, the passing-out band played martial music and the officer cadets swore allegiance to the national flag.
But commanders at the NATO-supervised military academy in Baghdad, modelled on Britain's Sandhurst, said nothing can prepare the newly graduated soldiers for Iraq's mean streets.
"No military doctrine in the world says you are going to face terrorists in your neighbourhoods, streets and houses," said Brigadier Imad Mohammed, director of Baghdad's Rustamiya military academy.
"Our cadets are going to face a situation that cannot be expressed in military language. They will have to learn it in their daily life. I cannot bluff and say they are completely trained," he said.
Outside the academy's walls, two dozen Iraqi soldiers were killed on Monday in fierce street fighting with Shi'ite militiamen in the city of Diwaniya in some of the bloodiest clashes yet among rival factions in Shi'ite southern Iraq.
Supervised by 100 NATO trainers from more than 10 countries, a group of 140 officers graduated on Monday to join Iraq's new army in the fight against rebels and sectarian bloodshed that has raised fears of a civil war and the breakup of the country.
Boosting Iraq's army, disbanded after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein, is key to allowing the withdrawal of about 135,000 U.S. troops.
But a surge in sectarian violence since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine has complicated a pullout timetable.
Iraq's army stands at 130,000 troops in 10 divisions. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is to assume formal operational control of Iraq's armed forces by next month, U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said on Monday.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Colonel Paul Brook, chief of staff of NATO's training mission in Iraq, said 600 officers have graduated so far from the academy, based on Sandhurst's leadership-building methods.
"Under Saddam and his friends there was no professional development of leadership understood as a responsibility and not a privilege so there is a lot of calibrating to do," Brook said.
The cadets, Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds from across Iraq, also receive training on counter-insurgency and urban warfare operations during the one-year course.
The mood at the passing-out ceremony was jubilant -- women ululated and cadets strutted in their new uniforms as their parents took pictures.
But commanders warned the fight will be tough.
"Insurgents are not an easy target. They hide underground and mix with the people. Our officers will have to learn to work closely with the population," General Naseer al-Aabadi, deputy commander of Iraq's army said after the ceremony.
With sectarian violence deepening, the loyalties of Iraq's security forces have been questioned. Sunnis accuse Shi'ite militias of running death squads that have infiltrated the police, a charge they deny.
In Sunni rebel strongholds, Sunni troops have deserted ahead of combat. On Monday, the U.S. military confirmed reports that about 100 Shi'ite soldiers based in Basra refused last week to move to Baghdad to boost a U.S. and Iraqi security sweep there.
But the cadets said they will fight for Iraq's unity.
"I am an Iraqi and I am serving the army of Iraq. I don't care about sectarian and ethnic affiliation," said 23-year-old Ali al-Jubari, a Sunni Arab from the northern city of Mosul.
"I will do what my commander tells me to do."
Reuters
Maybe one day, today's cadets will return as instructors and teach the rest of us just how you do it.
One can only hope.
But commanders at the NATO-supervised military academy in Baghdad, modelled on Britain's Sandhurst, said nothing can prepare the newly graduated soldiers for Iraq's mean streets.
"No military doctrine in the world says you are going to face terrorists in your neighbourhoods, streets and houses," said Brigadier Imad Mohammed, director of Baghdad's Rustamiya military academy.
"Our cadets are going to face a situation that cannot be expressed in military language. They will have to learn it in their daily life. I cannot bluff and say they are completely trained," he said.
Outside the academy's walls, two dozen Iraqi soldiers were killed on Monday in fierce street fighting with Shi'ite militiamen in the city of Diwaniya in some of the bloodiest clashes yet among rival factions in Shi'ite southern Iraq.
Supervised by 100 NATO trainers from more than 10 countries, a group of 140 officers graduated on Monday to join Iraq's new army in the fight against rebels and sectarian bloodshed that has raised fears of a civil war and the breakup of the country.
Boosting Iraq's army, disbanded after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein, is key to allowing the withdrawal of about 135,000 U.S. troops.
But a surge in sectarian violence since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine has complicated a pullout timetable.
Iraq's army stands at 130,000 troops in 10 divisions. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is to assume formal operational control of Iraq's armed forces by next month, U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said on Monday.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Colonel Paul Brook, chief of staff of NATO's training mission in Iraq, said 600 officers have graduated so far from the academy, based on Sandhurst's leadership-building methods.
"Under Saddam and his friends there was no professional development of leadership understood as a responsibility and not a privilege so there is a lot of calibrating to do," Brook said.
The cadets, Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds from across Iraq, also receive training on counter-insurgency and urban warfare operations during the one-year course.
The mood at the passing-out ceremony was jubilant -- women ululated and cadets strutted in their new uniforms as their parents took pictures.
But commanders warned the fight will be tough.
"Insurgents are not an easy target. They hide underground and mix with the people. Our officers will have to learn to work closely with the population," General Naseer al-Aabadi, deputy commander of Iraq's army said after the ceremony.
With sectarian violence deepening, the loyalties of Iraq's security forces have been questioned. Sunnis accuse Shi'ite militias of running death squads that have infiltrated the police, a charge they deny.
In Sunni rebel strongholds, Sunni troops have deserted ahead of combat. On Monday, the U.S. military confirmed reports that about 100 Shi'ite soldiers based in Basra refused last week to move to Baghdad to boost a U.S. and Iraqi security sweep there.
But the cadets said they will fight for Iraq's unity.
"I am an Iraqi and I am serving the army of Iraq. I don't care about sectarian and ethnic affiliation," said 23-year-old Ali al-Jubari, a Sunni Arab from the northern city of Mosul.
"I will do what my commander tells me to do."
Reuters
Maybe one day, today's cadets will return as instructors and teach the rest of us just how you do it.
One can only hope.
posted by madtom at 1:28 PM
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