In a previous post I noted how much progress the Iraqi troops have made over the past year. This week’s State Department report on Iraq has an update on the status of Iraqi troops. Here’s the latest graphic:
You can compare that to this earlier chart, which shows where we were last year and how much had changed up to a few months ago. Unfortunately, the only differences between August and now are a few spots in northern Iraq:
Still, this is progress. There are now 323,000 Iraqi security forces trained and equipped. The US Army deserves enormous credit for undertaking a project of that magnitude and executing it so quickly. Doubtless they’ve had to cut corners and there continue to be troop performance and infrastructure issues, but that’s still an unbelievable accomplishment.
