The US Army is hastening efforts to hand over command of military posts to Iraqi forces after parliamentary elections that many hope will produce a more stable government and set the stage for US soldiers to begin going home.
Seventeen of the 109 former Iraqi bases used by coalition troops since the 2003 invasion have already been transferred to Iraqi command, while 30 have been shut down, Army officers say. The Pentagon is pushing for more in the coming months.
"Eventually they're all going to go," said Major John Calahan, executive officer of the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade. "The ultimate plan is that we're going to have less presence in Iraq until finally we're gone."
Defense analysts caution it may not be a fast process. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made similar comments in Iraq this week, even as he said two Army brigades would not deploy to Iraq as planned. Commanders said that would cut US troop strength by 7,000, to around 130,000.
Despite the step-up in efforts to turn more security duties over to Iraqi units, Calahan said concerns linger over the readiness of those troops.
Some Iraqi forces have excelled and fought well alongside Americans, but other units have been hamstrung by weapons shortages and some have had their soldiers caught working with insurgents.
In some places, Iraqi troops have failed to report for duty, gotten caught with bomb-making materials or allowed insurgents to attack US convoys or other coalition soldiers by looking the other way, Americans say.
That reality has fueled an undercurrent of distrust for Iraqi soldiers.
"A lot of them want to do a good job, but then you have those who only show up for a paycheck," said Sergeant Paul Hare, 40, of Tucumcari, New Mexico, a Humvee gunner in the 101st Airborne's 33rd Cavalry Regiment. "I don't trust a one of them."
The plan for turning military posts over to Iraqis has been in place for months, but Army officers say the administration of US President George W. Bush has quickened the timeline.
By 2027, Denmark would relocate its foreign convicts to a prison in Kosovo under a 200-million-euro (US$228.6 million) agreement that has raised concerns among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and residents, but which could serve as a model for the rest of the EU. The agreement, reached in 2022 and ratified by Kosovar lawmakers last year, provides for the reception of up to 300 foreign prisoners sentenced in Denmark. They must not have been convicted of terrorism or war crimes, or have a mental condition or terminal disease. Once their sentence is completed in Kosovan, they would be deported to their home country. In
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
LOST CONTACT: The mission carried payloads from Japan, the US and Taiwan’s National Central University, including a deep space radiation probe, ispace said Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the moon’s surface during its lunar touchdown attempt yesterday, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon, which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace’s second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has
RSS