IraqHistoric proportions of Iraq’s military collapse raise questions about Iraq’s viability
“The scale of Iraq’s military collapse is of historic proportions,” one military analyst said. A recent assessment of the Iraqi military found that 60 out of 243 Iraqi Army combat battalions “cannot be accounted for, and all of their equipment is lost.” American military officials said an evaluation of the state of Iraq’s military revealed that five of the Iraqi Army’s fourteen divisions were “combat ineffective,” including the two that were overrun in Mosul. The United States has spent $1.7 trillion in Iraq since 2003, of which $25 billion were used to equip and train the post-Saddam Iraqi military. The United States received no return on its huge investment in Iraq, but it was hoped that at least the Iraqi military, U.S.-trained and U.S.-equipped, would provide a solid, professional foundation for a new Iraq. Developments in Iraq last week proved that this hope was illusory.
The United States has spent $1.7 trillion in Iraq since 2003, of which $25 billion were used to equip and train the post-Saddam Iraqi military. The United States received no return on its huge investment in Iraq, but it was hoped that at least the Iraqi military, U.S.-trained and U.S.-equipped, would provide a solid, professional foundation for a new Iraq.
Developments in Iraq last week proved that this hope was illusory – just like the assumptions which undergirded the larger U.S. project in Iraq since 2003.
Western military analysts say that the performance of the Iraqi military in the last two weeks – or, more precisely, utter lack of performance – in the face of ISIS advances, makes it clear that the army will continue to suffer losses in its fight with ISIS Sunni militants – that is, when it fights them at all — and will certainly not be able any time soon to retake the vast swaths of Iraq now no longer under government control.
The New York Times reports that Western officials and military experts who analyzed the state of the Iraqi military concluded that about a quarter of Iraq’s military forces are “combat ineffective,” its air force is minuscule, morale among troops is low, and its leadership characterized by widespread corruption.
Ghost army
A typical salary of a soldier in the Iraqi military is $1,000-1,200 a month, which is much higher than salaries in the rest of the Iraqi economy, where minimum wage is $150 a month. The soldier’s salary, however, is only a part – and often, a small part – of what the soldier brings home. Soldiers in the Iraqi army augment their salaries by demanding bribes from civilians trying to pass through checkpoints and roadblocks, and they loot TVs, refrigerators, and other electronic equipment during “searches,” then sell the equipment.
Haaretz reports that officers in the Iraqi army make up to $6,000 a month, but senior officer typically enhance their salaries by charging junior officers under their command if these junior officers want the senior officers to write recommendations for promotion. Other high-level officers take money directly from their units’ budget, then conceal the theft by reducing the salaries of the men serving under them, so that at the end of the month the units’ books look to be in order.
