Ramadi

There's a really interesting NYTimes piece this morning on the US siege of Ramadi and the use of Iraqi troops in the current version of "clear and hold."

Instead of leaving after the shooting stops — as the Americans have been forced to do in other Iraqi cities — the Americans plan to leave behind garrisons of American and Iraqi troops at various points throughout the city. For the first time, they say, they believe they have the manpower to make the strategy work. .....

Lt. Col. Raad Niaf Haroosh, the Iraqi battalion commander, said the 145 soldiers represented a fraction of the battalion's usual numbers. He said as many as 500 of his fellow soldiers — most of them Sunni Muslims from Al Jabouri tribe — stayed behind in Mosul rather than fight in Ramadi.....

He said many of the Iraqi soldiers who stayed behind feared they would create tribal vendettas if they came to Ramadi and killed other Iraqis.

"They said, 'We don't want fight our own people,' " he said....

Two Iraqi divisions are now in Anbar — with many of their units operating at about 60 percent of their planned strength — putting their numbers somewhere near 12,000.....

One thing that seemed clear on Monday was that however small the numbers of Iraqi soldiers were, their presence was far more palatable to local residents than that of the Americans.

So, there does appear to be some capable Iraqi military presence in Ramadi, however about half of those forces have refused to fight against their factional brethren which doesn't bode well.

Assuming that these Iraqi forces are rated at level two (able to fight with US support,) the 12,000 strong presence in Ramadi, plus the 8,000 who refused to come to Ramadi, represent about a third of all Iraqi troops the US has rated at level 2.

(Please note that one third of the troops rated as "combat ready" refused to serve in this operation which I think raises more significant doubts about the current combat capabilities rating system. Link: Latest details on the ratings and readiness of Iraqi troops.)