zakur
10th December 2003, 12:49 PM
Pentagon: One-third of new soldiers in Iraq army quit just before starting operations (http://www.boston.com/dailynews/344/wash/Pentagon_One_third_of_new_sold:.shtml)
Plans to deploy the first battalion of Iraq's new army are in doubt because a third of the soldiers trained by the U.S.-led occupation authority have quit, defense officials said Wednesday.
Touted as a key to Iraq's future, the 700-man battalion lost some 250 men over recent weeks as they were preparing to begin operations this month, Pentagon officials said.
''We are aware that a third ... has apparently resigned and we are looking into that in order to ensure that we can recruit and retain high-quality people for a new Iraqi army,'' said Lt. Col. James Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman.
The battalion was highly celebrated when the newly retrained soldiers, marching to the beat of a U.S. Army band, completed a nine-week basic training course in early October. The graduates, including 65 officers, were to be the core ''of an army that will defend its country and not oppress it,'' Iraq's American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, said at the ceremony.:eek:
Plans to deploy the first battalion of Iraq's new army are in doubt because a third of the soldiers trained by the U.S.-led occupation authority have quit, defense officials said Wednesday.
Touted as a key to Iraq's future, the 700-man battalion lost some 250 men over recent weeks as they were preparing to begin operations this month, Pentagon officials said.
''We are aware that a third ... has apparently resigned and we are looking into that in order to ensure that we can recruit and retain high-quality people for a new Iraqi army,'' said Lt. Col. James Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman.
The battalion was highly celebrated when the newly retrained soldiers, marching to the beat of a U.S. Army band, completed a nine-week basic training course in early October. The graduates, including 65 officers, were to be the core ''of an army that will defend its country and not oppress it,'' Iraq's American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, said at the ceremony.:eek: