Why Iraq Has No Army by James Fallow

Why Iraq Has No Army by James Fallow

Before I start this paper, I just want to share that I totally oppose military recruiters targeting children who think they know everything because of their age who aren't even old enough to legally drink. I think this and other factors make it very hard for Americans to trust that our government has the best of intentions at hand. Couple that with the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction found as we were told there would be makes it very hard to believe the reasons our president says we are staying in Iraq. I won't lie and say I immerse myself in national news because I don't. I don't pretend to have all the facts or even a working understanding of what's happening beyond my own back door. I realize I need to make more time for these things. I preface this paper with these facts because I believe this is the case of the majority of Americans today. We are so self-involved that we can't come together to problem solve and that is the real reason we are at war and still in Iraq. We're more interested in celebrity news than what's going on in the world around us.

As to the article, James Fallow attempts to explain why the Iraqi's don't have public order. He believes there is no "single comprehensive explanation for what went wrong" (Fallows, 2005). Fallows went on to note that looting would make it extremely difficult for any army, American or Iraqi to "restore order" (Fallows, 2005). He also noted that because American soldiers didn't respond appropriately to the looting, Iraqi's didn't take them seriously.

Additionally, Fallows writes that language is a huge barrier, as well as "ethnic tensions" (Fallows, 2005). He contends that Iraq needs "a national army strong enough to deter militias from any region and loyal enough to the new Iraq to resist becoming the tool of any faction; policemen who are sufficiently competent, brave, and honest to keep civilians safe...." (Fallows, 2005). He believes that America has made no true efforts to train Americans the Arabic language for the purpose of bridging the language gap. The article state that "T. X. Hammes says that U.S. forces and trainers in Iraq should have about 22,000 interpreters, but they have nowhere near that many. Some 600,000 Americans can speak Arabic. Hammes has proposed offering huge cash bonuses to attract the needed numbers to Iraq...." (Fallows, 2005).

Furthermore, Fallows believes the American government needs to "commit air, logistics, medical, and intelligence services to Iraq---and understand that this