:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Monday, December 29, 2003 ::

So much for that whole Democracy thing
Attacks Force Retreat From Wide-Ranging Plans for Iraq (washingtonpost.com):

"The United States has backed away from several of its more ambitious initiatives to transform Iraq's economy, political system and security forces as attacks on U.S. troops have escalated and the timetable for ending the civil occupation has accelerated. "

and suprise suprise just in time for that pesky election.:

"There's no question that many of the big-picture items have been pushed down the list or erased completely," said a senior U.S. official involved in Iraq's reconstruction, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Right now, everyone's attention is focused [on] doing what we need to do to hand over sovereignty by next summer."

At the same time, the occupation authority has substantially decreased the number of new recruits it intends to put through a three-month boot camp designed to build an improved, professionally trained army. Instead, the occupation authority is increasing the ranks of police officers and civil defense troops, who can be deployed faster but receive far less training and screening than the soldiers.

Who needs training anyways!

One good thing about this new cut-and-run philosophy that has replaced the "make them just like us" aka easily exploited by us philosophy is that maybe Iraqi's will be able to make their own decisions. They are the people who should be making the decisions in the first place.

:: Jim Nichols 12/29/2003 05:23:00 AM [+] ::
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