[link|http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html?ex=1345176000&en=5a8349a0e944e61b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss|The War as We Saw It]:

... the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal... Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb... an incoherent chain of command, who are really loyal only to their militias... we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side... Washington\ufffds insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made \ufffd de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government \ufffd places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support... our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities...

It's a good read.

Cheers,
Scott.