IRAQIS WON'T STAND UP TILL WE STAND DOWN

Heard Lawrence Korb (former Asst. Defense Sec., 1981-85, now a senior adviser to the Center for Defense Information) on CNN saying to Wolf Blitzer that the Iraq constitution draft as described undermines what we were trying to achieve. "We way underestimated the problem going into Iraq and we’ve done it again."

Here's the money quote (only it's a paraphrase): What's this nonsense about "training Iraqis" to defend themselves? The insurgents sure haven't needed much training. It's about motivation, not training.

That's just common sense. We can "train" a million Iraqis to police and defend their country, but as long as we're there to do the job for them, why should they pick sides? It's safer to take our paycheck and then cut and run if they don't like the action.

Any exit strategy that says, as Bush does, that "as the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down" is self-defeating.