The Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq

General (ret.) James L. Jones chaired the Independent Commission which submitted this report to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services, Appropriations, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations/Affairs on the readiness of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in September 2007.

The report addresses the readiness of the ISF to assume responsibility for maintaining the territorial integrity of Iraq, their ability to deny international terrorists safe haven, their ability to bring greater security to Iraq's 18 provinces in the next 12 to 18 months, and their ability to bring an end to sectarian violence to achieve national reconciliation. The Commission also assesses ISF capabilities in the areas of training, command, control, intelligence, and logistics and whether continued Coalition support would contribute to the readiness of the ISF.

The report concludes that in general the ISF have made uneven progress, but there there should be increasing improvement in both their readiness and their capability to provide for the internal security of Iraq. However, the Commission finds that the ISF will not be able to secure Iraqi borders against conventional military threats in the near term.