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<em>The Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq</em>

Iraqi Army soldiers await in a sand storm the arrival of the Iraqi Minister of Defense.
James Gordon, Flickr Commons

The Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq

Report

September 6, 2007

Authors: General (ret.) James L. Jones, USMC, Former Senior Advisor, Preventive Defense Project, General (ret.) John Abrams, Lt. General (ret.) Martin R. Berndt, General (ret.) Charles G. Boyd, Command Sergeant Major (ret.) Dwight J. Brown, Terrance Gainer, John J. Hamre, Colonel (ret.) Michael Heidingsfield, Admiral (ret.) Gregory G. Johnson, General (ret.) George Joulwan, Lt. General (ret.) James C. King, Duncan McCausland, Sergeant Major (ret.) Alford McMichael, Lt. General (ret.) Gary S. McKissock, Brig. General (ret.) Richard Potter, Maj. General (ret.) Arnold L. Punaro, Charles Ramsey, John F. Timoney, Lt. General (ret.) John A. Van Alstyne, General (ret.) Charles Wilhelm

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security

 

General (ret.) James L. Jones chaired the Independent Commission which submitted this report to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services, Appropriations, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations/Affairs on the readiness of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in September 2007.

The report addresses the readiness of the ISF to assume responsibility for maintaining the territorial integrity of Iraq, their ability to deny international terrorists safe haven, their ability to bring greater security to Iraq's 18 provinces in the next 12 to 18 months, and their ability to bring an end to sectarian violence to achieve national reconciliation. The Commission also assesses ISF capabilities in the areas of training, command, control, intelligence, and logistics and whether continued Coalition support would contribute to the readiness of the ISF.

The report concludes that in general the ISF have made uneven progress, but there there should be increasing improvement in both their readiness and their capability to provide for the internal security of Iraq. However, the Commission finds that the ISF will not be able to secure Iraqi borders against conventional military threats in the near term.

 

For more information about this publication please contact the PDP Associate Director at 617-495-1412.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/isf.pdf

For Academic Citation:

Jones, James L., et al. The Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq. September 6, 2007.

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The Preventive Defense Project is pleased to welcome General (ret.) John P. Abizaid and General (ret.) James L. Jones on board as Senior Advisors. Their insights from a combined 74 years of active duty service will be invaluable in helping the Project analyze problems across the full range of national security and foreign policy issues.

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