The news reports are saying that the opposition groups inside Iraq are the ones asking for the military training funds, and have been for some time. The $92 million would come out of funds already set aside for said opposition groups, only the US has balked at actually military training so far. Since we are already supporting those groups and have been for a long time, our credibility with them isn't at stake. If they were thinking about suddenly starting up a new program, I'd agree that any takers would likely be the very bottom of the barrel.

I agree that trying to train troops and put them into action requires years of training if it's going to be effective. My point was that training rebels in unstable countries has come back to bite us in the arse in the past and you'd THINK that we'd have figured out that arming unstable countries is pretty stupid.

As for my bro, he was a Blackhawk pilot. Army is not all infantry. He was always chomping at the bit to got into action and always got stuck behind a desk instead. His wife, who does have combat experience, is decidedly less enthusiastic about war :) I agree, most military folks aren't nearly as enthusiastic about war as those who've never had to face it head on. I used to date an 82nd Airborne guy; he also thought war was cool, but he'd never faced hostile fire either.

I think we've beat this one to death. I think the Bush administration is willing to act unilaterally, and I hope they don't get away with it, but it is logistically possible. Expensive and dangerous, but possible.

You think that the Bush administration WON'T act unilaterally, but you still don't want them to get away with it, and you don't think they could pull it off anyway.