The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London Wednesday criticized as inadequate the recent US troop reinforcements in Baghdad and accused the Iraqi government of 'lacking the political will' to rebuild the country.
In its annual report The Military Balance 2007, the IISS said the US deployment of a further 21,000 troops was not enough and neglected the 'subtler aspects of counter-insurgency doctrine.'
The proportion of 'one US soldier for every 184 Baghdadis' was well below recommendations contained in the new US Army and Marines field manual on counter-insurgency, IISS Director General John Chipman said.
London - The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London Wednesday criticized as inadequate the recent US troop reinforcements in Baghdad and accused the Iraqi government of 'lacking the political will' to rebuild the country.
In its annual report The Military Balance 2007, the IISS said the US deployment of a further 21,000 troops was not enough and neglected the 'subtler aspects of counter-insurgency doctrine.'
The proportion of 'one US soldier for every 184 Baghdadis' was well below recommendations contained in the new US Army and Marines field manual on counter-insurgency, IISS Director General John Chipman said.
'Simply flooding one area of Iraq, in this case parts of Baghdad, with troops, neglects the subtler aspects of counter-insurgency doctrine,' he said.
For a surge of troops to be sustainable it needed to be married to a follow-up process of reconstituting sustainable security, building an administrative capacity and establishing the rule of law.
The Iraqi government was 'neither willing nor able' to follow up what the IISS called the clear-stage with the build-stage.
'Its lack of political will is partly due to the weak position of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki,' the report stated.
The Iraqi leader would have to 'sweep away large numbers of ineffective cabinet ministers' to strengthen his position. But he lacked the political power for such a bold move, the report said.
