The Pentagon has given a stark assessment of the state of Iraq's fledgling security forces, concluding that only a "small number" of units are capable of fighting the insurgency without American military support.
In the first detailed official insight into Iraq's police and army, a Pentagon report said half of the new police units are still being established and two thirds of the army are only "partially capable" of carrying out counter-insurgency missions.
The assessment will come as no surprise in Iraq where, amid a wave of suicide bombings, it is all too clear that the vast majority of the new forces rely on US backing.
And many of the units that aren't explicitly relying on US troop support are already being accused of torturing and killing civilians. Abu Ghraib is back to being Abu Ghraib, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
This is a question that the media has been somewhat remiss in answering with any real specificity -- how exactly are they not ready to assume full responsibility of the domestic security role? Is it a question of incompetence, corruption, infiltration or disruption by insurgent cells? Fear? Lack of useful knowledge and/or intel about the insurgents? I'm not sniping or criticizing here, I'm saying that it's a crucial area, and I assume that it's been left deliberately gray. That can't be good, no matter how many "I'd tell ya but then I'd have to kill ya" clichés you throw out there.
But the report flies in the face of more optimistic assessments by senior officials of President George W Bush's administration who are pinning their hopes of a withdrawal of US forces on the ability of the Iraqi units to maintain security.
The sober analysis was made by Gen Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was leaked to The New York Times as Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, insisted on keeping secret the Pentagon's views on the Iraqi security forces, contained in a separate report due to be delivered to Congress last night.
Oh boy, another "leaker". Whatever the case, no doubt General Pace's vocalizing of an assessment different from the official line will get his ass Shinseki'd. It'll be interesting to hear how Rummy characterizes now that this alternative assessment has been leaked. He could acknowledge it and attempt to put forth the notion that is an actual plan at work here, or he could take a page of Cheney's handbook and just say "last throes, nothing to see here".
Strangely, I'm thinking "B", probably in that asinine style where Rummy continuously asks himself questions and answers them. Do I like getting blowjobs in the morning? Sure. In the evening too. Crazy world.
Gen Pace insisted that many of the Iraqi units had performed "superbly" but added that half of the police battalions are "not yet capable of conducting operations".
In an indication of the problems confronting the security forces, two Algerian diplomats were kidnapped yesterday, in an intensification of a new strategy of targeting foreign envoys in Baghdad.
Insurgents have launched the attacks on diplomats to isolate the American-backed Iraqi government and to dissuade Arab countries from putting embassies in the capital.
The Algerian mission chief, Ali Billaroussi, and diplomatic attaché, Azzedine bin Fadi, were grabbed off the street outside their office and bundled into two vehicles by armed men.
After the murder of the Egyptian envoy two weeks ago, there will be fears for their lives. In the same week Bahrain's envoy was wounded in a failed kidnap attempt, while the Pakistani envoy was fired on and the Russian ambassador's car riddled with bullets.
A number of diplomats are reported to have returned home and some embassies have scaled back their operations over security fears.
The daily suicide car bombings continued unabated yesterday with 12 Iraqis killed including five soldiers.
So it goes. Welcome to our tar baby. I suppose we could leave anyway; I'm sure the Iranians will be happy to complete the military training for them. They're helpful that way.
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