<By next September, he said, more than 200,000 Iraqis will be serving as police officers, soldiers and border guards, if Congress completes the appropriation of $20 billion in additional funds.>
Is that in addition to the $166B already appropriated? I remember when I was ridiculed on this thread, for saying that all the initial $75B would be spent. If only.
Bush has figured out that there are inadequate U.S. troops, and no way to get more. Ditto for other foreign soldiers. Now, the plan is Iraqization. It'll be a race, and they have already delayed far too long, and are way behind the curve. If they fail, the result is Chaos, on the Afghan/Somalia/Lebanon model. If they succeed, whoever is in charge of the Iraqi Army will be someone who calls himself America's ally, but is otherwise indistinguishable from the dictator we just kicked out. A Pinochet. Those are the only two realistic end-games, for Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
