Wolfowitz: More Dead Iraqi Soldiers=Smashing Success!

You've gotta be kidding me. Wolfie's 'hair tonic' must be affecting his brain. Pandagon likens the Undersecretary's statement to plumbing: don't fix the toilet--just make sure someone else is in the bathroom when it overflows.

The number two Pentagon official said reducing American casualties in Iraq was more important than bringing US troops back home -- and pointed to the rising Iraqi death toll as evidence this strategy was working.

I'm more concerned about bringing down our casualties than bringing down our numbers," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in an interview with PBS television's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" program. "And it is worth saying that since June 1, there have been more Iraqi police and military killed in action than Americans." ...

The number of Iraqi troops and police officers being trained by the US military has now reached 120,000, according to the deputy defense secretary.

But he acknowledged "there are problems in the quality" of the Iraqi recruits, who he said have a tendency to disappear from their units without permission.

"Problems in the quality" of the recruits. That lends a whole new dimension--and maybe multiple dimensions--to the concept of understatement. He and Condi Rice should be laughed out of Washington.

There are dupes, there are really idiotic dupes, then you've got dupes that beg to be duped. Put Wolfie and Condi in the last classification.

The Iraq army is going to make ARVN forces look like Tiger Squadrons. For those who AREN'T insurgents who've infiltrated the ranks, life will be nasty, brutish, and short indeed. For Wolfowitz, they are a yellowing figleaf to cover what would have to improve before you could call it the festering sore that is our policy in Iraq. And, by refusing to recognize the very real problem of insurgents taking advantage of a gaping hole in the US strategy ("problems in the quality" of the recruits), the administration might as well be taping a giant "kick me" sign on its back.

Of course, most of the hot air masquerading as testimony is for domestic consumption--how high can they put the number of Iraqi "security forces" and still maintain at least a shred of credibility (answer: when you have a bleating, compliant media, the number can be quite high). At the same time, Wolfowitz's comments neither inspire much in the way of confidence nor are they, say, much of a recruiting slogan: "We Want You--To Take a Bullet for America."

But I'll bet Wolfowitz thinks it's just grand that "more Iraqi forces" are dying. That must really cut down on the number of condolence letters his boss has to sign.