For the first time, U.S. troops distributed weapons directly to Iraqi fighting units last week instead of going through the government of Iraq, a major shift in policy illustrating an intensified interest in combating the Islamic State.
Sunni tribes and U.S.-trained Iraqi forces complained for months they had received inferior weaponry or, in the case of the Sunni tribes, no weapons at all, while advanced guns and vehicles went to Shiite forces fighting the Islamic State in Tikrit and elsewhere.
Previous U.S. policy had been that all weapons would be delivered to Baghdad’s Shiite-dominated central government, which would then take the lead in distributing them.
After several setbacks in the Anbar province, which is Sunni-dominated, the U.S. increased pressure to distribute weapons directly to the Iraqi troops and tribes.
According to a release from Combined Joint Task Force-Inherent Resolve, since late last year the U.S. has provided millions of dollars worth of weapons, equipment and vehicles in an effort to rebuild Iraq’s Army, and established training sites throughout the country to move thousands of new Iraqi recruits through a six-week basic training course.
U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Sustainment Brigade at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and the 1st Sustainment Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, distributed weapons directly to companies of Iraqi soldiers who are part of the 76th Iraqi Army Brigade. The U.S. troops distributed 1,000 M-16 rifles, and several hundred 60 mm-120 mm mortar sets, MK19 automatic grenade launchers, M240B machine guns, M2 .50-caliber machine guns, M249 light machine guns, M14 sniper rifles and M500 12-gauge shotguns.
Those Iraqi forces will be trained on the new equipment at the U.S.-operated training site at Taji, Iraq.
Most of the 7,000 trainees the U.S. has run through a six-week basic training course at four sites in Iraq since last November had not received any of the millions of dollars worth of weapons and gear the U.S. has provided Iraq in the last several months.
The Defense Department said on Wednesday that as of May 7, the cost of airstrikes and the train-and-equip program for Operation Inherent Resolve since August is $2.44 billion, or about $8.9 million a day.
