Throngs of Iraqi army soldiers head to the polls in Taji, Iraq on the morning of Dec. 12, 2005. Elements of the 9th Iraqi Army Division patrol the Taji area north of Baghdad with U.S. soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin BromleyFrom The Long War Journal:
The April 2009 updates to the Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle are now available at the ISF OOB homepage. The significant changes to the Order of Battle that occurred in March are summarized below.
The Budget Crunch.
The impact of Iraq's national budget crunch on the Iraqi Security Forces has been serious. On March 8, the Government of Iraq's spokesman, Dr. Al-Dabbagh said:
"I want to say that we have problems with the budget because of the oil. We -- The Iraqi (inaudible) the Council of Representatives are trying through -- by restructuring the, the budget, to, to fulfill all our needs. There are -- certain sectors are not going to get affected. One of them is the purchasing of equipment and the expansion of the Iraqi Security Forces because it's a big responsibility, which we have a big responsibility which is taking over the security responsibility after the American forces leaving Iraq. And we have to have the right number of equipment in order to have -- be self-reliant and self-sufficient -- and after 2011."
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My Comment: An ominous development for Iraq. The last thing that you should do is to decrease your military after you had experienced a civil war that murdered tens of thousands of your citizens .... and there is a danger of the conflict coming back.