Ok, so I looked that up.
Biden estimated that about 25,000 to 30,000 Iraqi troops had been effectively trained so far, up 5,000 to 7,000 from a figure reported several months ago. alertnet.org
I have no idea how Biden or anybody else would know, though. Just because you seem more sincerely interested in this than most people, I'll point out a couple big articles I've posted on the topic somewhat recently. Fallows' big Atlantic cover story this month can be seen in Message 21904758 , while a more policy - oriented take from a few months back can be seen in Message 21646865 .
I'm a little bemused by the current "stay the course" PR offensive from the WH, dutifully echoed here with requisite accusations of treason against any who question said course. The question that comes to mind on the "stay the course" front is, what course would that be? I can't believe that anybody would claim the current situation in Iraq is what W had planned when he set out to accomplish his mission, but he hasn't exactly laid out any new guideposts on what, exactly is supposed to be happening there. The current course just doesn't seem very appealing, but that seems to be sort of a conventional reality kind of problem, which W is pretty much immune from. |
