Smash hit

The Iraqi Army was disbanded after the invasion and rebuilt from scratch. Soldiers, dressed in a ragbag of different uniforms, look like poor cousins next to their ultra-technical US trainers. But they have the upper hand when it comes to cultural issues and gaining the trust of local people.

Colonel Aman Ibrahim Mansour, the Iraqi commander at the Yusifiyah base, said that his soldiers were capable of doing every kind of operation the Americans conducted and more.

“My men can disable a roadside bomb on their own when they find one, whereas the US soldiers have to call in a special bomb-disposal team,” the colonel said.

Despite such boasts, the Iraqi forces are not as disciplined as their US partners and find it hard to endure a sustained mission without a drink, a snack or a cigarette. “After they clear for about two hours they need a glass of chai [Iraqi tea],” Captain Starz said. “So we stop, secure the site, they drink a glass of chai, rest a little bit.”

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On a joint air assault last Thursday to hunt for al-Qaeda fighters in farmland near Yusifiyah, Captain Starz had overall control because he was in radio contact with a couple of attack helicopters buzzing overhead and a number of other ground units also taking part in the mission. But the Iraqi troops led the way into various remote houses and a small village, quizzing the occupants and searching for insurgents.

Yet two hours into the mission and with no insurgents in sight, the Iraqi contingent also initiated a break at the village, tucking into homemade bread brought out by a housewife while the US soldiers stood guard.

Private First Class James Lee, 24, said he found working with the Iraqi Army amusing and interesting. “Sometimes you feel that they have not got a clue what is going on,” he said. The Iraqi soldiers, for their part, seem proud to be serving their country. “I joined the Army because I wanted to help Iraq and because I needed a job,” Mohaned Saad, 22, said. “The US Army is a modern army and we want to be like them.”

New model army

— In the 1990s, there were a million troops in the Iraqi Army, with another 650,000 in reserves

— The old Iraqi Army was officially disbanded by coalition forces in May 2003. The largely Shia conscript force had by then fled the largely Sunni officers

— There were 80,000 officers in the old army in 2003. The most senior were barred from joining the new army, and some protested that their pensions were inadequate

— 8.6 per cent of Iraq’s GDP is now spent on the military

—There are more than 135,000 troops in the new Iraqi Army. It is divided into ten divisions, which passed from coalition to Iraqi control last year

— Last December 150 Iraqi Army soldiers graduated from the new army’s first mechanics course

Source: Global Security, Times archives, Operation Iraqi Freedom

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