Indeed, there has even been some talk about removing Maliki as prime minister! Whatever disappointments he has provided (and he has), how can we talk of removing an elected prime minister? If the Iraqis are unhappy, let them remove him. But polite realist circles here even discuss a coup led by the Iraqi army! Yet talking of regime change for brutal thugs like Ahmadinejad and Kim Jung-Il are out of bounds??!! A strange world, indeed.
So we must address the tactical problems of defeating the enemy. But let's be patient.
When some wonder about how long it will take Iraq--which is building a military from scratch--to be able to fight the enemy on their own, including logistics, training, firepower support, medical care, and all the other things that we take for granted, check this out in regard to our plans to turn over operational control of South Korean forces to South Korea near the end of 2009 at the earliest:
The transition will be based on a mutually agreed and reasoned plan. The Military Committee will report progress on the implementation of this plan annually to the SCM. Both sides agreed to begin immediately to develop a detailed joint implementation plan within the first half of 2007 in accordance with the agreed Roadmap. In noting the target year establishment, Secretary Rumsfeld offered assurance that the transition to a new command structure will be carried out while maintaining and enhancing deterrence on the Korean Peninsula and ROK-U.S. combined defense capabilities. He stated that the U.S. will continue to provide significant bridging capabilities until the ROK obtains a fully independent defense capability. The Secretary further noted that the U.S. will continue to contribute U.S. unique capabilities to the combined defense for the life of the Alliance.
After more than fifty years, the South Koreans still have gaps in their capabilities even though the South Koreans are prosperous, at peace, and technologically advanced.
And some capabilities, I'm assuming such things as nuclear weapons and deep precision strike capabilities, will remain exclusively our responsibility.
So stop whining about how "long" it is taking the Iraqis to take off their training wheels and fight without our aid. Work the problem. Don't panic. And remember that every day, Iraqi troops take on more and more of the burden of fighting.
It is unbecoming for the people of a great nation to look so hard for reasons to give up the most important struggle of our day.
