I was quite impressed with COL Everett’s candor and the sense that he was painfully aware of not only the strategic challenges MNF-I is facing but the world political environment as well.

James,

You must, therefore, be deeply depressed by the present gaggle of Republican candidates for president, each one growing more and more disconnected from the realities faced by American troops in Iraq and from the advice of brave commanders like Col Everett.

Giuliani's 12 ingredients for a new national disaster does note bode well for those on the front line who have been forced for the last four years to talk up a war that is taking the country down.

By the way, I see Giuliani added a 13th point to his list- Blame Clinton for everything.

He argues that the military and political leadership must make the American people “understand that this isn’t just about Iraq but about the whole region.” He’s realistic, though, about the level of progress being made on that front.

The American people are way ahead of him.

The American people know that a policy based upon lies is a policy doomed to fail. The American people know that we have no compelling reason to continue the war on Iraq any more than we had a compelling reason to begin the war on Iraq.

The American people know the sooner we end our war effort the better the chances for our major regional interests (oil) remaining available. The American people are prepared to face the consequences of doing the right thing and we are prepared to deal with whoever controls the oil after we remove our military from the area.

It is the military and the politicians who don't understand and whose views must be changed, not the American people's.

Iraq had plenty of national identity. You need only read what was being written by Iraqis from 2003 through 2005 to recognize that. The problem was that neither the national army nor the MNF were providing sufficient security and, consequently, Iraqis turned to the few remaining institutions, those of sect, tribe, and ethnic group, in the hope that they'd provide what neither the national government nor the MNF could. That's what happened in the elections the results of which everyone was so much surprised by.

Sectarian, tribal, and ethnic institutions have fared little better but, at least in my view, if anyone wants to foster national identity, they're going to need to provide more security. That won't be helped if, for example, the destruction of the minarets of the Golden Mosque was accomplished with the connivance of the forces that were supposed to be defending it.

Chicken and the egg?

Ok, so the mission of the US military is to get the Iraqi government to develop a "strong sense of national identity"?!?! How in the hell do they plan on doing this? At the barrel of a gun?

Short answer - they can't. Triumph, you have hit upon the critical issue in Iraq - no amount of effort or blood, no quantity of outstanding, brave soldiers, can ever succeed when the CinC sets out a mission that is physically impossible, and fixing what's wrong with Iraq via the military is impossible.

Unfortunately, that's the only solution Bush & Cheney are capable of grasping, and either the senior-most uniformed officers don't have the 'nads to tell the boss when he's off the rails, or those that do get ignored or fired. As many people have noted before, there is absolutely zero chance the US will be able to leave Iraq before Bush leaves office. None.

He noted the tremendous progress in al Anbar province. He notes that it was “written off a year ago” with daily terrorist attacks and incredible sectarian violence.

It is important to point out that al Anbar is still seeing 100 attacks a month against US troops. This may be "progress," but it certainly still is indicative of the persistence of "daily terrorist attacks."

He reiterated that the primary mission is to get the Iraqi government to stand up and take responsibility for running the country and that, the key to that, is a strong “sense of national identity.”

Ok, so the mission of the US military is to get the Iraqi government to develop a "strong sense of national identity"?!?! How in the hell do they plan on doing this? At the barrel of a gun?

Even if a foreign occupier could plausibly create a sense of national identity amongst government officials, it is important to remember that the Iraqi "government" is largely a fiction whose powers and authority barely cover the Green Zone, let alone the extent of a large and diverse country.

I was quite impressed with COL Everett’s candor and the sense that he was painfully aware of not only the strategic challenges MNF-I is facing but the world political environment as well. I’m no more confident than I was going in that we can turn things around soon enough to maintain political support but I’m heartened that at least our senior military leadership knows what they’re up against.

Well, you're easily impressed, I guess. Nothing in your report suggests that you asked--or at least pressed--him about the efficacy of their implementation strategy.

For instance, you may have asked the obvious follow-up to the "strong national identity" nonsense: How does the fact that the US is arming Sunni militias and training the Shiite-dominated security forces contribute to fomenting a "strong national identity?"