The administration is fond of throwing statistics about how there are 100 or so Iraqi brigades in the new refored Iraqi army. Subtext: the US can pull out soon, leave things to the Iraqis. Progress.
In fact, however, not at all:
The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday.
It reminds me of a Vietnam war cartoon which unfortunately I’ve been unable to find online: as I recall it, Herblock’s everyman is pointing to traintracks that lead to a dark tunnel into the mountain and saying, “No there isn’t: There’s a tunnel at the end of the tunnel”. (I couldn’t find that one, but I did find this classic Herblock cartoon, which is similar.)
