Numbers re competent Iraqi battalions now secret

alertnet

..The mandatory quarterly report to Congress on Iraq depicted progress in forming U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces. But two officials who briefed reporters on the report refused to say how many Iraqi battalions could operate without U.S. help, beyond saying it was no longer zero.

..Lt. Gen. Gene Renuart, director for strategic plans and policy for the military's Joint Staff, said 71 Iraqi battalions could either take the lead in security operations with U.S. forces helping or operate and sustain themselves independently from U.S. forces.

Asked for specific numbers on how many could function independently, Renuart and Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said that information was classified.

Reminded that he told reporters in February that the number was zero, Renuart said, "We have increased it substantially." Read more

db: Let's do the math ... substantial increase, say, 500% x zero [exisitng] = erm, zero.