One way to help Iraq

Today's NYTimes article is, understandably, getting a ton of attention for the news that the McCain Plan is being seriously considered -- that is, adding approximately 20,000 troops (to the current 145,000). As I've written before, I'm entirely unconvinced that a troop increase of less than 15% will have a significant effect, and CENTCOM commander General Abizaid has expressed similar views in Congressional testimony.

But tucked away in the article is the news that of 144,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, whose ostensible mission is to hand over Iraq to Iraqis, just over 3,000 are working with Iraqi Army, police and border units. 3,000! That's 2% of our troop outlay doing the most important mission in the country. And the administration claims there are roughly 323,000 Iraqis trained, which means one American advisor for every 108 Iraqis being advised. Not exactly an ideal student-to-teacher ratio.

If Democrats are looking for legislative opportunities to help change the course in Iraq -- and there aren't many, due to the overwhelming control of foreign policy by the executive branch -- passing a resolution to vastly increase the advisory assignments (by shifting duties, of course, not increasing overall numbers) in Iraq would be a good start.