Stand up, sit down, fight fight fight...and die.
I don't have confirmation of this yet, but I heard a story that the Iraqi vice-president disputed Washington's assessment of the troop training process. Not surprisingly, the "troops" are being used for retribution by the Shi'a for past abuses at Sunni hands. Great.
This fits in with a statement by the U.S. commander overseeing the building of Iraq's security forces, as he said that "the training of Iraqi police was complicated by the armed militias still claiming the loyalties of many officers."
Ah, the key question of nation-building. In an influential essay written many years ago (1970) and set in a world far far away (medieval Europe), Joseph Strayer emphasized the importance of the transfer of a population’s loyalty away from family, local community or religious organization to the new state and its institutions. I'm sure that's happening, aren't you?
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