Iraq's military won't be ready to assume control of the war-ravaged country for two more years, an Iraq expert told the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
"This isn't politics and games. It's blood. American blood. You don't want to be the last guy to die in a war when you know there's a mandate" to leave, said retired Army Col. Paul Hughes.
Hughes had extensive experience in Iraq as the former director of strategic planning for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, which the Department of Defense established to help run Iraq following the U.S. invasion.
"Ultimately, we're going to leave Iraq. The question is how you do it," said Hughes, dressed in a gray suit adorned with a pin with the U.S. and Iraq flags.
Hughes returned to the U.S. on Tuesday from a fact-finding trip to Iraq where he met with Iraq military officials and politicians.
"I asked the Iraqis how long it would take to get their entire security forces operational, and was told it will take two years to get their units organized, trained and fielded," said Hughes, a senior Iraq expert for the United States Institute for Peace, an independent agency funded by Congress.
Hughes, 55, spoke to 200 high school students and others as part of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh's Noon Briefing Series, a nonpartisan effort looking at the current state of Iraq. The discussion was produced in conjunction with WQED Multimedia.
The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to set a timetable for troop withdrawals from Iraq, and a nonbinding amendment calls for most troops to leave by March 31, 2008. The White House has opposed the move, saying it would undermine the reconstruction and Iraq economy.
The Iraqi people are aware of the debate raging in the United States and are fearful it will pull out before securing the country and establishing an effective rule of law, Hughes said.
Hughes said that concern is understandable because former President George H. W. Bush encouraged Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north to revolt against the regime of Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War in 1991. But he did not intervene when Hussein's security forces killed thousands of people who rose up against the Iraq leader.
Hughes also was a member of the Iraq Study Group, chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and Lee Hamilton, which did an independent assessment of Iraq and made recommendations to President George W. Bush.
Army Col. Michael Connell of the 99th Regional Readiness Command, based in Moon, attended Hughes' address. Connell spent a year in Iraq and agreed with much of his presentation.
He said American forces are helping the Iraqi people, providing security to the best of their ability and helping rebuild the country's infrastructure.
"We have the ability to help people who are being repressed," Connell said.
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