WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration's new Iraq report paints a picture of Iraqi security forces still plagued by sectarianism and heavily dependent on U.S. troops to conduct operations.
"Left on their own, many ISF (Iraqi Security Force) units still tend to gravitate to old habits of sectarianism when applying the law," said the report, issued by the White House on Thursday.
The report graded Iraq "not satisfactory" in terms of increasing units that could operate without U.S. help, allowing Iraqi forces to work without political interference and enforcing the law even-handedly.
A key element of U.S. strategy is building up Iraqi security forces so they can take over more responsibility and allow U.S. troops to go home. The U.S. military says it has trained and equipped more than 353,000 members of Iraq's security forces.
But the report said there had actually been a "slight reduction" since January in the number of Iraqi units judged capable of operating independently of U.S. forces. It did not provide figures.
Source
Slight reduction in capable Iraqito operate on their own? That doesn't sound like progress.



