Demise of Iraqi Units Symbolic of U.S. Errors
Rebuilding Hindered by Past Mistakes
By Rajiv ChandrasekaranWashington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 25, 2004; Page A01

SAQLAWIYA, Iraq -- The police outpost here is supposed to house 90 armed members of Iraq's National Guard. Their job is to keep watch over a stretch of six-lane highway, deterring insurgents from laying roadside bombs and trying to blow up a bridge over the nearby Tharthar Canal.

But when the U.S. Marine commander responsible for the area visited the outpost this month, he found six bedraggled guardsmen on duty. None of them was patrolling. The Iraqi officer in charge was missing. And their weapons had been locked up by the Marines after a guardsman detonated a grenade inside the compound.

Iraqi general arrested for aiding insurgents

The United States military has arrested the head of the Iraqi National Guard in the city of Baquba on suspicion of collaborating with insurgents.

Last February Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during a trip to Baghdad that there were more than 210,000 Iraqis serving in the security forces. But earlier this month, he said the number of fully trained and equipped Iraqi forces was 95,000. (Even that is probably inflated.) In reality, the best-case projection for a fully ready Iraqi army, civil defense and constabulary is probably two to three years off.