Freedom refuses to March

From the unbelievably schizophrenic NY Times:

Despite the Bush administration's insistent optimism, Americans working with the Iraqis in the field believe that it could be several years, at least, before the new Iraqi forces will be ready to stand alone against the insurgents.

A few days before the Mahmudiya raids, Iraqi soldiers at a local checkpoint apparently fell asleep in the hours before dawn, and the checkpoint was ambushed by insurgents. They tossed a grenade into the building, then stormed in and executed those left alive, killing at least eight Iraqis, American soldiers said. Since the attack, American troops have been conducting nighttime patrols to make sure the Iraqis stay awake.

The American command has already created military transition teams of soldiers to work with Iraqi troops, and there are plans for up to 10,000 Americans to be attached to Iraqi units at every level from divisions down to battalions and companies, with up to 10 men at the battalion level, and 2 with each company.

"I just wish they'd start to pull their own weight without us having to come out and baby-sit them all the time," said Sgt. Joshua Lower

What a tar-baby of a policy.

We go in, kill more than 1,700 of our own, 100,000 civilians, spend $225 Billion and counting (let's face it, we're on our way to spending nearly a half-trillion on this sinkhole) we fail to occupy the country properly, and when we finally give up and leave...

*POOF!*

It will probably all be for squat, unless of course, you actually hate 'Murica and want instability and the downfall of the current nation-state [in which case, many Republicans can turn away as if they never heard such a statement].

Stay and fail, or leave and fail.