Hat tip to Chester of The Adventures of Chester for this link to Intel Dump. The story of "Fighting for their own country, their own way" is a great heads up on a trend in Iraq - Apparently Private Military Groups are drawing people that have a soldiers mentality and heart as opposed to drawing people looking for a 'job'.
and
Intel Quote:
describing the rise of "irregular" Iraqi units around the country, which were popping up on their own, raised by individual officers, funded privately, with little connection to the U.S.-led effort to raise an Iraqi army. Surprisingly (or maybe not so), these ad hoc units appear to be better led, better equipped, and more combat effective than their "official" brethren. And, perhaps more importantly, some U.S. officers are recognizing this, and figuring out how they might co-opt or work together with these Iraqi forces.
The U.S. would be well advised to mimic its past success in Afghanistan by finding more warriors like the ones in these units, and enlisting them in the common cause of Iraqi security. Lt. Gen. Petraeus had it right -- let's train the Iraqis to handle their own security as quickly and effectively as possible, so that we can bring our men and women home.
Check the rest of the story at Intel...
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