Iraq not paying its troops in Anbar

USA Today:

The Shiite-dominated central government is starving Iraqi security forces in the Sunni heartland of the resources needed to fight the insurgency, according to American officers.

In Anbar province, a Sunni region west of Baghdad, many police officers haven't been paid for three months. "It's difficult to ask a man to risk his life if you can't even pay him," said Marine Brig. Gen. Robert Neller, deputy commanding general of Multinational Force West.

Winning over Sunnis is critical to achieving a political solution to the violence in Iraq. Retribution killings between the two Muslim sects have been growing this year. The dispute in Anbar highlights a growing fear among Sunnis that the government isn't sincere about helping them.

"That's why people in Anbar think the government in Baghdad doesn't want them to succeed," Neller said. "Sometimes I wonder if the government in Baghdad wants them to succeed."

Anbar is among the most dangerous areas of Iraq. Of 104 American troop deaths in October, at least 40 were in Anbar.

There are about 33,000 American troops in Anbar, spread across 53,000 square miles. The population is 1.2 million, about 80% of which are Sunnis.

In September, Marine Maj. Gen. Rick Zilmer, the commander of troops in the region, said he had enough forces to complete his primary mission of training Iraqi forces but not enough to defeat the insurgency.

That job will depend largely on the abilities of Iraqi forces. There are about 7,000 Iraqi police officers and 13,000 Iraqi army soldiers in the province.

Haider al-Ibadi, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said corruption in Anbar has prevented the government from paying officers more quickly. Some Iraqi officials in Anbar have submitted fake names of officers and fraudulently pocketed the money, he said.

Neller said U.S. and Iraqi army forces are making progress in recruiting police despite the difficulties.

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This problem is the product of several mistakes. The first is the force to space issue, that was supposed to be addressed by adding Iraqi forces. This mistake has been compounded by expectations that Iraqis were competent to run their government. If the troops are not being paid, then clearly at a minimum their is incompetence. At worst this is being done deliberately to make the project a failure. It appears to me that the Democrat's caterwauling on the war has led to a rush to empower the Iraqis before they were ready which is having a cascading effect in the Anbar region. It is another example of the Iraqis not stepping up to the opportunities we have provided.