That's only true, from where I sit, if you think that the terrorists believe we will be in Iraq *forever*. We have to leave at some point.

2) "We will leave in six to twelve months. In that time span, we will do (a), (b) and (c) to get you up to snuff."

The latter is the far better option, from where I sit.

When has anyone ever worked his/her hardest and not been under a deadline?

In a year, with a decent strategy for training and some competence, Iraq should - I believe - be able to fend itself.

US general says Iraqi security forces making great progress
Iraq-USA, Politics, 11/8/2005

The Iraqi security forces have made "huge progress" in the past year and half in developing their capacity to fight insurgents, according to the US general formerly in charge of their training.

"Here's the bottom line," Army Lieutenant General David Petraeus said in Washington November 7, "they're in the fight, and they're increasingly leading it." He said "huge progress" has been made during the past 15 months to 17 months.

Petraeus was the first dual commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I), as well as the NATO Training Mission-Iraq, positions he held from June 2004 until last September. Army Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey since has assumed both commands.

Petraeus said the combined number of Iraqi Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry forces has risen to 211,026; he predicted that figure will rise to about 230,000 by the time Iraq holds elections for a permanent government in December.

"There's... about 15 battalions, combat battalions... of the police and the army that are in training right now, a number of which will be out of training well before that and into the force and helping with those mid-December elections," Petraeus said.

The general stressed that the goal of the MNSTC-I is similar to that of T.E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, who played a pivotal role in helping organize the Arab revolt against Ottoman rule in World War I.

"Our tasks were to help the Iraqis, and we underscored the word 'help' because we very, very much believed in what Lawrence of Arabia wrote back in... 1917, when he was out helping Arabs, where he discussed about helping them, rather than doing it for them," he said.

The way that the multinational force is helping the Iraqi security forces is by providing organization, training, rebuilding and equipment, Petraeus said.

With regard to organization, the general said, MNSTC-I is drawing up tables of organization that spell out who gets what weapons, who gets how many vehicles, what radios and all of the elements that make up a unit.

"There is now in fact a very well defined force structure for the short term, the midterm and the long term," Petraeus said.

He said the equipping effort has resulted in the delivery of "tremendous quantities" of weapons, vehicles, ammunition and other goods.

With regard to rebuilding, the general said that the multinational forces have rebuilt hundreds of border forts, hundreds of military bases, police academies, military academies, military training centers, ministry buildings, and battalion, brigade, division ground forces headquarters, and "all the pieces and parts that link them together."

Regarding military training, Petraeus highlighted what he called "a very important program" involving placing 10-man adviser teams to work with Iraqi military units at various levels.

"They are with every single battalion, brigade headquarters, division headquarters, ground forces headquarters, even in the ministries, the joint force headquarters and so forth, and they're helping enormously," he said.

Petraeus said that increasingly the multinational training effort is focusing on raising the institutional capacity of the interior and defense ministries, "so that soldiers are paid on time, contracts are paid,... equipment is purchased in accordance with the right requirements, and so forth."

The general said that military trainers are paying attention to what he called "the intangibles," factors that are critically important but less easy to measure, such as ethics and values.

"I can tell you that anybody who's been in the brotherhood of the close fight knows that this type of intangible is crucially important," Petraeus said.

The general said that a fatwa, or religious ruling, issued by some Sunni Arab imams in Iraq that it was the duty of Sunni Arab males to serve in their country's military forces has been "enormously" helpful to the recruiting efforts.

Much of the Iraqi insurgency is based in the center and west of the country known as the Sunni triangle. The Shi'a and Kurdish segments of the Iraqi population have been more supportive of the new Iraqi government than the Sunni minority, which dominated the country during Saddam's rule.

Petraeus said that the work of ensuring diversity in the Iraqi forces is not done yet but he said there is recognition of the problem and a commitment to solving it.

Although Casey said the number of troops and overall readiness of Iraqi security forces have steadily increased in recent months, and that there has not been a "step backwards,"
...
"Over the past 18 months, we have built enough Iraqi capacity where we can begin talking seriously about transitioning this counterinsurgency mission to them," Casey said. Military figures show that there are about three dozen army and special police battalions rated at Level 2 or above, meaning they are taking the lead in combat as long as they have support from coalition forces.

Certainly something needs to be addressed there - so address it so we can get out of there. That's why we need the timetable - if they know they have to get this all put together in 6-12 months, there will be an edge to their prep that there wouldn't be otherwise.

I guess it all depends upon which side of the story you believe. According to the commanders on the ground there are over 200k trained (at various levels of course) Iraqi forces that are participating in the effort w/ the coalition forces.

But then the question is how well are they trained and how much are they contributing to the effort

See, instead I would think that setting a date to unilaterally withdraw would help stem the resistance fighters that our presence spawns now.

(including not setting up permanent bases and other establishments that would help promote the idea of a puppet democracy),

Not that we would anyway. . They are "insurgents" and "terrorists" and must be destroyed (the old black 'n white worldview).