"I have a question about training the Iraqis. How come it is taking so long?

Armies fight as brigades. In modern military organization, the brigade is the smallest combat element capable of sustaining itself in the field. And they typically contain somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. If you don't have proficient brigades, you don't have an army to speak of....So the question is, "how long does it take to build a brigade staff?" The answer, if you start from scratch, is years....It takes seven to nine years to build a successful brigade staff officer. It takes longer than that to develop the NCOs that are able to function at that level and at the same time coach the younger soldiers along. It takes 11-13 years to build a successful brigade chief of staff. And 15-18 years to build a successful brigade commander....I'm surprised we've been able to create independent brigades as quickly as we have - and my chief concern is not that it's going too slow, but whether the process has been rushed because of political considerations back in the U.S."

"And no, it wasn't a mistake to disband the Iraqi army. The Iraqi army had no NCO corps to speak of, and its officer corps was truly foul and corrupt, and its hands were dripping with the blood of Shia and Kurdish women and children. The majority population of Iraq would never have bought into the existing Iraqi army. The old Iraqi army could not have evolved into anything worthwhile. It was a monster and a retard, and a rabid one at that."