Back in the Game

Ralph Peters is certainly back in the game of writing about how to win in Iraq. After the fall elections he lost heart for a bit (as I note here). I welcome his voice, though (and sometimes because) he is a bomb thrower. He makes a common charge, however, that I wish was not repeated:

The second, enduring question is whether the Iraqis will finally knock off their squabbling and shoulder their share of the burden. Petraeus is giving us a lesson in skillful generalship, employing U.S. troops where he must, Iraqis where he can. But, in the end, we can't win this unless the Iraqis win it for themselves. Pious statements about "brave Iraqis" only get us so far: We're still only buying time - and no one can pretend that time isn't running out.

He is right that we are buying time and that the Iraqis must be able to win this war without our current level of help. The Iraqis must get better at fighting and governing.

But to say that Iraqis are not shouldering their share of the burden is outrageous when you consider that Iraqi security casualties are two or three times our level, and Iraq has a population of less than 10% of ours. Let there be no doubt that they are carrying the burden. And this doesn't even count the civilian victims of terrorist violence.

And like I said, I'm glad Peters is working the problem again.