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The long-awaited report on Iraqi Security Forces delivered to Congress today advocates a similar transition in mission as that proposed by Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson.
The Jones Commission, tasked with assessing the strength of Iraqi security forces, proposes to transition American forces to a new mission while putting more responsibility for internal security on Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).
“Since the surge policy was proposed, I have opposed asking American troops to fight in another nation’s civil war,” said Nelson. “That’s not the mission for our troops and I’m pleased to see that this commission agrees that we need to let the Iraqis take the lead in stabilizing their country.”
The Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, chaired by retired General James Jones, recommended that the U.S. military should soon begin transitioning its mission from policing sectarian violence to protecting critical infrastructure and securing the Iraqi border. At the same time, the Iraqi forces would be tasked with internal security.
The report says, beginning as early as 2008, “The circumstances of the moment may continue to present the opportunity for considering a shift in the disposition and employment of our forces… such a strategy would include placing increasing responsibilities for the internal security of the nation on the ISF, especially in urban areas. Coalition forces could be re-tasked to better ensure the territorial defense of the state by increasingly concentrating on the eastern and western borders and the active defense of the critical infrastructures essential to Iraq.” [pg. 127]
Nelson has long advocated a similar transition and has previously offered legislation to require a change in the mission in Iraq. He has also stated that stability in Iraq will occur only through political reconciliation – another stance echoed by the Commission’s report: “The future of Iraq… hinges on the ability of the Iraqi people and the government to begin the process of achieving national reconciliation and to ending sectarian violence.” [pg. 130]
“This month, the Senate will again debate the role of our troops in Iraq. I have been working with members of both parties to craft legislation that will allow us to move forward in Iraq, while placing appropriate accountability on the Iraqi government,” said Nelson. “General James Jones and the other members of the commission have done a tremendous job with this report and I know it will be very helpful to Congress as we begin to consider the way forward.”
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