Haven't seen this story diaried: Iraqi army has 25% absenteeism, major problems. Happy to delete if it's a repeat.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has spent $19 billion to train and equip 348,000 Iraqi security forces to take over from U.S. troops, yet Iraqi units remain beset by 25 percent absenteeism, sectarian infiltration and the inability to sustain combat operations, Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, former head of U.S. training, told Congress on Tuesday.
Of course, Dempsey is just the latest military officer to give us this particularly insane news. But take a look at what else he had to say:
Of 188,300 Iraqi police officers trained by the United States, as many as 13,000 have either deserted or remain unaccounted for, including an unknown number of Iraqi police who have defected to the insurgency or been taken into custody by U.S. forces during combat operations.
and
Iraqi combat brigades initially sent into Baghdad to join the 17,500 U.S. troop "surge" ordered by President Bush on Jan. 10 showed up with barely 50 percent of their assigned soldiers. Iraqi soldiers were assigned to serve 90-day combat tours -- in contrast to U.S. Army combat units that were ordered to begin serving 15-month combat tours April 11.
Doesn't seem like the Iraqi's are planning to "stand up" anytime soon.