Still Not Standing...

Remember when the Connecticut Cowboy said that we'll stand down when the Iraqi's stand up? Not only are the Iraqi's still not standing up, they're not even showing up. From the Iraqi parliament , to the Iraqi Army, only the American troops and American tax dollars are fully invested.

The Iraqi Parliament

Since last November, almost every session of the Iraq parliament has been adjourned due to weak attendance. Of the 275 member parliament, typically less than half attend. The situation has forced the speaker of parliament to begin fining the absent members $400 for each missed session. The individuals whom Bush so relished pronouncing their names in his faux drawl: Pachachi and Allawi, have both left Iraq, still collecting their six figure salaries. However, Pachachi was available for interview by Damien Cave of the New York Times. When asked about the turmoil in parliament, Pachachi said (safely from Abu Dhabi) that the Iraqi "people are totally disenchanted...there has been no improvement in the security situation. The government seems to be incapable of doing anything despite all the promises.” Cave also writes that this Monday's session actually met the quorum, including the attendance of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim who arrived late spending his 'first five minutes waving and nodding at colleagues, some of whom he apparently had not seen in months.'

The Iraqi Army & Haifa Street
Speaking of arriving late, today Cave gives us a disturbing look into what our troops are facing daily on the streets of Iraq, alongside their Iraqi brethren. Cave writes: 'In a miniature version of the troop increase that the United States hopes will secure the city, American soldiers and armored vehicles raced onto Haifa Street before dawn to dislodge Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias who have been battling for a stretch of ragged slums and mostly abandoned high rises. But as the sun rose, many of the Iraqi Army units who were supposed to do the actual searches of the buildings did not arrive on time, forcing the Americans to start the job on their own. When the Iraqi units finally did show up, it was with the air of a class outing, cheering and laughing as the Americans blew locks off doors with shotguns. As the morning wore on and the troops came under fire from all directions, another apparent flaw in this strategy became clear as empty apartments became lairs for gunmen who flitted from window to window and killed at least one American soldier, with a shot to the head." He goes on to write that the platoon is never quite sure who is firing at them, and who has killed their fellow soldier. Is it the Shiites, Sunni's, or is it...their tardy cohorts who vanished moments earlier? The Sergeant in command, Sgt. First Class Marc Biletski, shouts to his platoon: “Who the hell is shooting at us? Do we know who they are?” The Iraqi's are still nowhere in sight. At this moment, the Sergeant acknowledges: “This place is a failure...Every time we come here, we have to come back.”

Cave observes that 'many of the Iraqi units that showed up late never seemed to take the task seriously, searching haphazardly, breaking dishes and rifling through personal CD collections in the apartments.' The Americans later realize that the Iraqi's have not conducted a thorough search and have once again vanished. The gunfire begins once again, from all directions, bringing the Americans to wonder again who is firing at them. They again, locate the Iraqi soldiers. Most shocking about this demonstration of the twisted hell our troops are in, Lieutenant David Stroud remarks “it’s their show” and adding that the Americans have orders to defer to the Iraqis in cases like this.

At the end of this deadly chaotic exercise with 2 Iraqi soldiers shot, Cave ends with one final disturbing observation: Many of the rest of the Iraqi soldiers 'could not stop shouting and guffawing with amusement as they ran through the smoke. One Iraqi soldier in the alley pointed his rifle at an American reporter and pulled the trigger. There was only a click: the weapon had no ammunition. The Iraqi soldier laughed...'