Iraq Going Great...For The Insurgents

Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article about how poorly the training of Iraqi forces is going and how weak their conduct in battle. This isn't an attack on the Iraqi men themselves -- anyone signing up for training as a soldier or cop when insurgents are attacking their families and suicide-bombing lines of workers is brave in my book.

But a number of depressing points popped up: many of them lie to their families about their jobs and not just for security -- some of them are embarrassed. But if Iraqis have to lie about defending their own country from suicide bombers, we are definitely losing the battle for hearts and minds.

One US soldier said a sign of improvement would be if Iraqi soldiers simply showed up for anything other than payday.

But here's the little noted kicker:

"Given the weak performance of Iraqi forces, any major withdrawal of American troops FOR AT LEAST A DECADE would invite chaos, a senior Interior Ministry official, whose name could not be used, said in an interview last week."

Excuse me, but shouldn't that have been the headline? Bush's original plan to pull out most troops after three months has now switched to keeping them there until 2014 -- AT THE EARLIEST. Can you say quagmire?