Analysis: Soldiers in Iraq take on new role

WASHINGTON — Normally, U.S. soldiers train to fight, not to train. But these are not normal times — not in a chaotic Iraq where President Bush is banking on improving Iraqi security forces so the American military can begin to pull out, or at least pull back.

U.S. soldiers and Marines are being plucked out of combat positions to be "embedded" with Iraqi army and police units as trainers and advisers.

They face numerous obstacles, including language, a lack of resources and loose linkages between the Iraqi security forces and their civilian leaders. But U.S. commanders see this effort as the key to winding down American combat action in a country wracked by internal strife.

In Washington, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group examining new courses of action in the war is planning to recommend next week that thousands more advisers be sent to accelerate the development of Iraqi security forces.

Pentagon officials are studying ways to expand the adviser corps. But in the view of some who have studied the problem, fielding substantially more advisers — and making them effective — may be more difficult than commonly believed.

"Training is a specialty. Training of foreign forces is an art," said Daniel Goure, a military analyst at the private Lexington Institute. "That's the difficulty here, and compound that difficulty by the language barrier."

Goure on Friday described the training and advising effort as "better than nothing, but not great."

Thus far, at least 3,500 U.S. advisers are operating inside Iraqi army and police units, and more are arriving weekly. Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, told Congress recently that he would like to expand the number but was studying how many could be added without enlarging the overall U.S. forces in Iraq, now numbering about 140,000.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of coalition forces in northern Iraq, said Friday he had discussed with Abizaid a plan to add about 2,000 advisers to the roughly 2,500 he already has in his region. He said he believed he could accomplish that without having to increase the size of his force.

Teams of 10 to 15 advisers live and work with Iraqi army, national police and border agent units. They go on raids and other missions to coach the Iraqis and assess weaknesses, and they act as role models, steering them away from corruption, human rights abuses and other problems.

So far, U.S. advisers are giving the program mixed reviews. Some of them complain they spend much of their time making sure Iraqi soldiers are paid and have the equipment they need.

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