Iraqi Force Development: Conditions for Success, Consequences of Failure (CSIS Reports) - Softcover

Cordesman, Anthony H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0892065044 ISBN 13: 9780892065042

Publisher: Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2007

Synopsis

The creation of effective Iraqi security forces is vital to the success of U.S. and Coalition efforts in Iraq. Without a minimum level of security, Iraq will never achieve effective governance, the rule of law, economic reconstruction, or political reconciliation. Even with a surge of U.S. troops, neither Baghdad nor the rest of Iraq can be secured without significant support from Iraqi security forces, including the military and police.

The effort to create Iraqi military, security, and police forces has been more successful than Iraqi political and economic efforts, but it has not achieved the level of success the United States initially anticipated. The impressive numerical growth of the Iraqi security forces (ISF) masks serious problems in the way the United States and its allies have approached force development. The demands of rapidly creating a large force in the midst of an insurgency and sectarian conflict have been complicated by the lack of preexisting U.S. plans for ISF development, limited resources, and the grindingly slow U.S. responses to the changing security situation. The task has been further complicated by corrupt and/or incompetent Iraqi governance and by sectarian and ethnic politics and feuding. All of these problems have affected the loyalty, discipline, training, desertion rates, and combat effectiveness of the Iraqi Army and police forces.

About this title

About the Author

Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, USA. He formerly served as national security assistant to Senator John McCain of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as director of intelligence assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as civilian assistant to the deputy secretary of defense.

ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN is Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a military analyst for ABC News. A frequent commentator on National Public Radio, he is the author of numerous books on security issues and has served in a number of senior positions in the US government.


ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN is Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a military analyst for ABC News. A frequent commentator on National Public Radio, he is the author of numerous books on security issues and has served in a number of senior positions in the US government.

Edition details

• Publisher: Center for Strategic & International Studies
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0892065044
• ISBN 13: 9780892065042
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232