Constantly attacked by insurgents and reviled by many Iraqis for collaborating with the Americans, Iraqi soldiers and police have the impossible job of trying to keep the peace where there is none to keep.
The U.S. military knew they’d have to train Iraqis, they just didn’t know it would be so difficult. In Fallujah, many of them turned and ran, explaining that they did not sign up to fight fellow Iraqis. The U.S. general in charge of training Iraqi forces worked at it for a year, but concluded that America should have known better, and done things differently.
Guests:
Army Major General Paul Eaton, Commanding General, Coalition Military Training Team in Baghdad
Scott Baldauf, reporter for The Christian Science Monitor in Najaf