A team of U.S. Air Force personnel at Basra Air Station in southern Iraq is working to rebuild an air force that the U.S. military spent more than a decade destroying, as I note in today’s The Washington Times. Former test pilot Lt. Col. Kelly Latimer and her team of five pilots and maintainers are partnered with 70 Squadron of the reborn Iraqi air force, which three years ago had been grounded by 12 years of attacks and sanctions.
The squadron’s 15 Iraqi pilots and 39 other personnel operate four light aircraft donated by coalition countries — two bulbous Seekers powered by a single pusher propeller and painted bright yellow, as well as two single-prop CH-2000s sporting a more conventional engine-in-front layout and gray paint. Both types carry infrared and daylight cameras for monitoring power and oil infrastructure and for spotting targets for other branches of the Iraqi military.
This year, the squadron has spent 900 hours in the air, usually flying about five sorties a day. An American pilot rides along on all flights. This close partnership isn’t likely to change anytime soon, given the Iraqi Air Force’s limited capability. The Air Force Association’s Daily Report notes:
Lagging behind Iraqi ground forces is the buildup of the Iraqi Air Force, which [defense analyst Anthony] Cordesman says is “at best a small cadre of forces with token reconnaissance and air transport capability.” The chief problem being “difficulty in recruiting qualified candidates.” He does say that Iraq plans to at least double the current 750-man force by the end of 2007. Of course, he also notes that the Iraq Ministry of Defense has not developed plans to procure its own combat aircraft. All of which makes last year’s prediction by outgoing USAF Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper that the US Air Force would still be in Iraq long after US ground troops have pulled out seem right on the mark.
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We created this mess in Iraq and now we have to fix it. We have destroyed the balance of power in the region and has left Iraq vunerable to attack. Every single country in the Middle East could strike Iraq with no fear or retalliation. The Iraq Military was completely destroyed on purpose by U.S and their Coalation partners. Look at the broader picture here. Look at history. History speaks for itself. We have been in Japan, South Korea and Germany for how many years now. Over 5 decades we have provided protection in those regions to prevent other country from lauching their own military stikes on what we knew back then as a vunerable state. Never forget about what happen in the Iran and Iraq war some years ago. If American forces leave Iraq, the country will be divided into 3 possible 4 new regions leaving Syria, Turkey, Iran and possible the Saudis controlling/influencing those regions. You already see the clear picture on what the Iranians and the Turkish are doing. Of course everyone in the region wants us out of Iraq. Iraq is a gold mine with rich oil fields in several different region. Iraq has no military to protect itself from its own neighbors. As far as the Iraq Airforce being reborn, well thats a joke. Sorry but a Cessna is just not going to cut it. Not when your neighbors are flying the latest F-15s, F-16s, Migs, Mirage Fighters, Suu-27′s, Suu-30′s, Suu-35′s and soon the new Suu-37. Im predicting a multi billion dollar arm sell of American fighters and Transport Aircraft. Not to mention all the attack helicopeters and army vehicles which also will be needed. I hope you dont think that we the U.S. will allow Russia to just come in and unload a multi billion dollar arms package on Iraq and benifit from it. The U.S has invested to much in Iraq to just give it all away with nothing in return. Soon you will start to see U.S. made Fights being flown over Iraqi skys by Iraqi piolets. Until now, the U.S. is here to stay. America needs to wake up and look at the whole picture. The permanent bases are already in Iraq and we are there to stay.
Given how sensitive it will be to continue stationing American servicemen in iraq after our welcome has worn out and a sovereign country has asked us to leave, you have to wonder why there is no contingency for this with long term planning – such as with the training of iraqis to stand on their own.
We would never expect our own forces to stand against the insurgency without high performance attack air assets, so we cant expect them to “stand” that way either. The successful training of iraqis to fly cessnas fits the scenario of turning Iraq into a client state who are a long term dependency of the US and not a true sovereign country – or one who’s leaders are seen to be America’s puppets and thus dont have the confidence of the population, as we continue to use them for arms sales.
Thats a recipe for never ending trouble there. Its still not too late to learn the lessons from Vietnam.