HOW LONG WILL WE BE IN IRAQ?

If the time it takes to get the Iraqi Army is any indication, YEARS! From a MNF-I press conference in Baghdad.


BRIEFING BY LT. GEN. JAMES DUBIK, COMMANDING GENERAL, MULTI-NATIONAL SECURITY TRANSITION COMMAND-IRAQ AND BRIG. GEN. KEVIN BERGNER, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ SPOKESMAN.
TOPIC: OPERATIONAL UPDATE.
LOCATION: THE COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
TIME: 2:00 P.M. EDT DATE: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2007.


GEN, DUBIK: ... I think the Iraqi security forces, because they have grown, especially the army because they have grown so quickly just in 18 months, two divisions, seven brigades,16 battalions. When you grow a force that quickly, you're gonna have generally four kinds of problems. Number one, you're gonna be able to get soldiers before you get leaders and so you have groups of soldiers without leaders. Second, you're not gonna be able to create mid-grade leaders as quickly as you can create lieutenants. A lieutenant and a captain you can create in a year or two. A major or lieutenant colonel or colonel takes a lot longer to create.

[SNIP]


You can create a combat unit in a matter of a few years but to create the bureaucracy that knows how to sustain that army, to acquire the things necessary, to spend the army, to construct all the facilities, to manage all the facilities, to develop the school system necessary for leader development those take longer time. So there's two different categories of military time here. The first category is how much time is necessary to build a combat unit. That's a few years. How much time does it take to build the military bureaucracy?. That takes a lot longer.