Troubling reports from the Iraqi Army

Sounds like instead of "standing up," alot of the Iraqi soldiers are choosing to sit it out.

U.S. Marines working with the brigade told Stars and Stripes, the U.S. armed forces newspaper, that its strength dropped from 2,200 soldiers in December to 1,400 in May.

"Many of my soldiers have not gotten paid in six months," Uosef said. "Sometimes, they don't eat for two or three days at a time. I tell my commander, but what else am I supposed to do?"(Lt. Moktat Uosef is a company commander in the 4th Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Army Division.)

From a US policy perspective, how unforgivable is this? Not that there are Iraqi desertions, in the big picture, that is somewhat out of US control, but that they're deserting for not getting paid. They're not getting food.

In the current Iraqi economy, men would do incredible things if they had a stable and secure guaranteed salary to support their families. I know that the Iraqi Army payroll is technically handled by the Iraqi government, but is there any higher priority for the US right now than making sure that the Iraqi Army is stable and peopled by good men?

And if 1% of those desertions(I would bet it's far higher) end up fighting against US troops, what is the cost of that?

How is this not fixed by now?