Carter: Iraqi Army Draws Few Recruits

The Iraqi army has been unable to draw enough recruits and train them to fight, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the House Armed Services Committee during a June 17 hearing. “Of the 24,000 Iraqi Security Forces we had originally envisioned training … by this fall, we’ve only received enough recruits to be able to train about 7,000, in addition to 2,000 Counterterrorism Service personnel,” Carter told the panel. He had expressed his concern about low recruitment to Iraqi officials as well, he said, describing their response as “encouraging.”