Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Monday, January 22, 2007
Media Hero
The new Iraq media pony searchers and hope for the future is Gen. Petraeus. He's the media darling. Virtually no one that I've heard has had anything negative to say about the guy. But check out what he had to say about the Iraqi security forces in September 2004:
[T]here are reasons for optimism. Today approximately 164,000 Iraqi police and soldiers (of which about 100,000 are trained and equipped) and an additional 74,000 facility protection forces are performing a wide variety of security missions. Equipment is being delivered. Training is on track and increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired. Command and control structures and institutions are being reestablished.

Most important, Iraqi security forces are in the fight — so much so that they are suffering substantial casualties as they take on more and more of the burdens to achieve security in their country.

[T]here is no shortage of qualified recruits volunteering to join Iraqi security forces. In the past couple of months, more than 7,500 Iraqi men have signed up for the army and are preparing to report for basic training to fill out the final nine battalions of the Iraqi regular army. Some 3,500 new police recruits just reported for training in various locations.
Is that kool-aid drips I see on his uniform?

Honestly, we'll never get anywhere in Iraq until it is recognized that the problem isn't "security". The problems are political. You can't control people out of civil war. They have to negotiate through it, or more likely, fight through to exhaustion.

In reading about the enormous casualties in Iraq from yesterday, it was interesting to note where the deaths occurred. Baghdad and Al Anbar province were actually relatively quiet (although Baghdad certainly was far from quiet today). But now the rest of the country south of Baghdad is a mess. The Madhi militiamen in Baghdad have either left for the countryside or put their guns away ..... at least for now ..... after passing out hand gernades to each household in Sadr City. Whack-a-mole is in full operation here and will continue until we get out.
Written at 1:20 PM by Greyhair.
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