Intercede
for President Bush as Commander-in- Chief, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
foreign policy advisers, and all U.S. and coalition military
commanders, troops and support staff in the Middle East.
Lift
up prayers for those serving in the military, as they carry out their
duties as “bearers of the sword.” (Romans 13:4) Continue to keep them
in your prayers as they willingly place themselves in harm’s way.
Pray that followers of Jesus of Nazareth in the U.S. Military and
coalition Forces would be free to encourage each other and express
their faith as the Lord would lead. Ask the Lord to strengthen them as
they may struggle to find the Lord daily in the middle of war and
destruction.
Ask the Lord to bless the efforts and protect the
medics, chaplains and all support personnel who also put their lives at
risk; to protect the newly elected leaders and their families from
assassination.
Lift up the new Iraqi government to the Lord.
Ask Him to bring unity to all political and religious factions, to
enable the country to be blessed with good government and free
expression of faith.
(UPI,
2/17/06) In spite of the problems facing Iraqi forces, they are making
major progress that should provide a new degree of legitimacy and
popularity to the Iraqi government and allow the Coalition to reduce
its forces. Changes in the U.S.-led Coalition advisory effort have led
to steadily higher selection and training standards and better
equipment and facilities. Embedding U.S. training teams in each new
Iraqi unit, and pairing them with U.S. combat units until they could
operate on their own, has made a major qualitative difference in the
field. More and more Iraqi units have come on-line.
There
are, however, still many problems in Iraqi force development,
particularly in the security forces in the Ministry of the Interior and
in the police forces. Outside aid will still be needed for some years.
Equally important, political and military successes are interdependent.
The new Iraqi forces can only succeed if the Iraqi political process
succeeds. Political success requires security.
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Feb. 24, 2006 - Untitled Comment