Jackson Jambalaya

Here are some reports from Iraq. One is by Ralph Peters, a New York Post reporter who was embedded in Iraq until recently:

THERE is no substitute for being on the ground if you want a sense of where Iraq may be headed. The reality is almost always different when you smell it up close. ...
Given the complexity of the situation in Iraq - problems that date back not just to 2003, but to biblical days - no one can guarantee success, however humbly we measure it. But quitting will guarantee failure, with gruesome long-term costs. .....
Given the strategic bravado and operational inconsistency - the battlefield fecklessness - of the Bush administration in the past, it's essential to avoid gushing optimism. But, based upon what I saw, from the dust of Anbar Province to the streets of Baghdad, during Infantry patrols and in interviews with generals I trust, I believe that sober optimism is in order. .......
That doesn't result in a fully cohesive effort. Our allies in Iraq are well aware of what happened in Vietnam in 1975, when we last abandoned those who put their faith in us.
THE bottom line? Our troops are doing their job, and they're doing it brav ely and brilliantly. If only we could say the same about Washington . . .
Can we achieve a favorable outcome in Iraq? Yes. But achieving it depends on politicians behaving like statesmen - in Baghdad and in Washington.
We're winning in the streets of Baghdad, but we may lose in the corridors of power. ...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09042007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq_inspection.htm?page=0

The other dispatch is from Jeff Emanuel, a former special ops soldier who blogs from Iraq and is also embedded with American units. In this story he writes about the training of Iraqi SWAT teams. I'm not surprised at their success as they are trained by Special Forces troops who train them not passing them along according to a schedule but when they met a particular standard:

"These men are in the process of joining quite an exclusive group within their profession. Some are already Iraqi Police, while others are simply recruits off the street; however, for those who successfully complete the training laid out for them by their Green Beret-wearing taskmasters, they will be an elite group within their region's security apparatus: members of the Tal Afar SWAT team....
PROSPECTIVE TAL AFAR SWAT team members are put through a two-part training course by U.S. Special Forces. First is a four-day “smoke session,” characterized by very little sleep and a great deal of physical activity.
"We try to test their desire," said the Special Forces team commander. "They have to want to be here. ....
Unlike the training of conventional Iraqi and National Police, which is done in a one-size-fits-all, strictly-scheduled manner, the training of SWAT candidates is done "not to time," but "to standard," as a Special Forces sergeant so succinctly put it. "Once they can go through the shoot-house with live rounds, without us worrying about them killing us or each other, then they'll be done – however long that takes. ......."
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=1298091