Building an Iraqi Army

Here is an article in today’s New York Times by Michael Gordon.

There has been a lot of news about training Iraq’s army to take over when we leave; however, news coverage has not been this specific or personal. Compare the professionalism of the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces, especially the conversation about “bad guys.”

We (the U.S. military and government) are trying to build a modern army with Iraqi soldiers who were probably members of a militia a few years ago. They are a cellphone call away from deserting.

How can we build military tradition?

I bet it takes a long time.