From a cursory search, it appears that the performance of the Iraqi army has been a trainwreck ever since independence. This failure to perform well survives multiple reorganizations and government changes. Why is this?
I would just like to jump in this thread early on to remind everyone about our rules about current events. If you are preparing a response, please limit yourselves to discussion of events in 1995 or earlier. It hardly needs saying that more recent events in Iraq can be quite controversial, and raise the possibility of discussion turning into heated political debate. Such a thing is not appropriate to AskHistorians.
Please, keep the discussion historical.