He said, for instance, that Iraqi recruits now receive about the same training as United States Army recruits.

With translation, Iraqi recruits received the equivalent of four weeks of training.

Ideally, these foreign forces would also be assigned a group of Iraqi recruits to train.

When are we going to stop making sitting ducks of Iraqi recruits?

Eventually, the Iraqi recruits now being hurriedly trained may provide some relief.

Asked whether American forces have adequate intelligence about the Iraqi recruits they train, he said the vetting process "is sound."

The lag in supplying the equipment, because of a contract dispute, may even have contributed to a loss of lives among Iraqi recruits, commanders say.

"They looked like they were ready to do business," Col. John Coleman, chief of staff for the expeditionary force, said of the Iraqi recruits.

Simply turning out new Iraqi recruits and expecting them to perform well is insufficient, the officials said.

Iraqi recruits are getting killed so fast we can't even pretend that we're going to turn the country over to them.