I'm no expert in anything (heaven knows).

But I have to ask why our military has been training Iraqis for the past four years to be civilian police? They don't have any expertise in that area. I suppose that's why they are now talking about training an "elite" military police....

...which is what Saddam did. It would seem to be a recipe for setting up a military dictatorship. Isn't that one of the reasons Bush gave us after the invasion for going into Iraq in the first place? To end the practice?

Wouldn't it be better to just let the Iraqis, who have always had their own local police forces, select and train their own people...if they haven't already? Many of the cities and towns outside Baghdad probably never disbanded them entirely.

I've always been amazed how upper management thinks you have to re-invent the wheel when there is a fully operational one already in place. Usually all that is needed is a few modifications and an infusion of the latest techniques to get things humming along.

I don't like the sound of our military coming up with another plan that will take years to implement and still not be the right answer for another country. It's time to let the natives decide how and when they will restore order.

And it's time to stop talking about "success or progress" when all we are doing is going around in circles.

I hope the reports I've seen about Senator Harry Reid willing to compromise with this GOP congress and the Bush EMPIRE on a withdrawal date for our brave men and women from the middle of this CIVIL WAR is not true. Don't let the right wing water carrying talk radio minions confuse the American people about progress in Iraq. The low polls congress is experiencing now as to do with the American people dissatisfaction with the Democratic congress not keeping their promise of a firm withdrawal date. Any capitulation by the DEMS on a firm withdrawal date by next year will definitely cost "Hillary/Clark 08" the presidency.

Where Oh Where has our common sense gone? Did a Bomb hit it too and caused the Republicans brain damage? When you think about it, isn't it simple, the solution? Why can't they get help to bring them back to reality?

THIS is the guy who is supposed to give the Report on Iraq????? A rubber stamping, ass kissing crony Bush had to fire several other Generals to find???

The Bad Judgment of Gen. David Petraeus

Gen. David Petraeus is a good man and a great soldier with a track record of almost complete failure in his previous tours of duty in Iraq.

To lay the foundation for the historic debate that will begin as Labor Day ends, the point of this note is to highlight how wrong Petraeus has been in his previous tours of duty in Iraq.

Fact: After the initial phase of fighting, in the areas under his command, sectarian warfare ultimately escalated and his efforts for political agreements, while worthy, failed.

Fact: In his tour of duty commanding the training of the Iraqi military, his training results were a dismal failure, and all subsequent training programs have been to redo his failed efforts and undo the damage done during that tour of duty.

Fact: There have been major disappearances, losses and/or misplacement of large amounts of Iraqi weapons that were grossly mismanaged (at best) under his command. Almost certainly those weapons were ultimately sold on the Iraqi black market with some landing in the hands of criminals, insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists who used them to kill Americans and Iraqis.

Fact: The Army has recently expanded a major criminal investigation of the mismanagement, misuse and probable corruption that happened during the Petraeus watch, under the Petraeus command. Petraeus is undoubtedly 100 percent personally honest, but there are people close to him under investigation for weapons and resources under his command, which were stolen or lost, and he bears a substantial command responsibility for bad management and bad judgment.

Fact: Shortly before the 2004 presidential election Petraeus did something that active-duty commanders should not do. In late September he wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post obviously as a favor to the Bush campaign, in which he applauded what he called major progress by the Iraqi military, Iraqi police and Iraqi leadership.

It is bad enough that the general, a smart guy who knew what he was doing, interfered in the 2004 presidential election, in effect advocating the position of the Republican candidate, the incumbent, on the number-one issue of the campaign, only weeks before the vote.

Beyond taking a political position in a way that an active-duty general should never do, which demonstrates political tendencies that in truth trouble many of the highest ranking military officers today, his forecast and analysis turned out to be almost completely, catastrophically wrong on every level.
We now learn the “Petraeus Report” was never the Petraeus Report; it was to be a report he drafted, to be rewritten and released with the language, forecasts and recommendations not of Petraeus, but the White House that has a long history of misrepresentation on matters regarding Iraq.

http://pundits.thehill.com/2007/08/31/the-bad-judgment-of-gen-david-petraeus-brent-budowsky/

If Bush had of gone to war with Afghanistan,only. Broke up the Terrorst Training Camps and broke up the Dope fields and gave them the possibility of raising another crop of something that would have brought success to the people. Left some of the troops there to keep the Dope fields from coming back.

Then spent money to build up America's education
rooms. Spent the same amount of money he has spent in Iraq to help the Usa. What A Wonderful World this could be? WHY CAN'T BUSH SEE THIS?

Then put in ways to pay down the National debt. Can't you just see how much better everyone would feel?

Debated ways to make our Nation safer from Terrorst attacks. What garbage he has done instead. Clintons would have done something similar to what I have written.