General: Iraqi security needs 12-18 mos.
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The top U.S. general in Iraq said Wednesday he believes Iraqi security forces can take over security with little coalition support within a year to 18 months.
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WASHINGTON - Iraq's security forces have made "uneven progress" and will be unable to take over security on their own in the next 12 to 18 months, according to an independent assessment.
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Iraq is &quot;working 24 hours a day to ... stop the terrorists,&quot; interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Monday. Iraqis are pushing ahead with reforms and improvements, Allawi told
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"Bomb, bomb," a man shouts, as a group of Iraqis dives for cover. It's all a drill &#151; part of six-week course to train new guards who will oversee thousands of prisoners taken into custody in the ongoing Baghdad security crackdown.
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Security cannot be truly established in Iraq until the country's own police, armed forces and other security organisations are firmly in place, Iraqi deputy prime minister Barham Salih said.
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Iraqi security forces won't be able to handle major security challenges for years - perhaps as many as 15 - and won't be able to take the lead in attacking insurgent strongholds before elections scheduled for ...
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By July, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq should be down to about 130,000, according to the U.S. commander in Baghdad, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus -- about the same number as before President Bush sent additional combat forces there last spring.
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U.S. military commanders said Friday the troop buildup in Iraq must be maintained until at least next summer and they may need as long as two years to ensure parts of the country are stable.
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BAGHDAD, July 14 -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi military and police are capable of maintaining security "any time" the Americans want to leave the country.
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At a time when Iraqi insurgents are targeting local police officers and recruits for attack, the United States has raised by one-third -- to 135,000 -- the size of the Iraqi police force it says will be needed to help secure the country, according to information the administration has provided to Congress.
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Iraqi security forces should be in a position to take control of 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces by year's end, although they will not be ready to fight on their own for some time, a top U.S. general said on Sunday.
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U.S.-led forces could leave Iraq within 18 months, Iraqi interim Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Britain's Channel 4 News Sunday after Iraq's election.
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The top American general in Iraq said   on Wednesday he foresaw Iraqi forces assuming control of the   country's security within 12 to 18 months with "very little"   support from U.S.-led forces.
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The new commander of U.S. troops in Iraq has warned that military force alone will not be enough to quell the country's violent insurgency.
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Iraq's defense minister said on Monday his country would need foreign military help to defend its borders for another 10 years and would not be able to maintain internal security until 2012.
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The newest program for training Iraqi security forces, embedding 11- to 15-member U.S. transition teams in Iraqi battalions, represents a "high-risk assignment" for the American officers and men involved, according to top military training officials.
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Massing enough troops for another rotation in Iraq will be "painful" and may eventually require extension of the two-year limit on mobilization of reserves, official says.