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Almost daily, there's another news item when someone from the Federal
Government (like Rumsfeld or a General) says something about Iraqi soldiers
and police and their training. How the training is (or isn't) progressing,
how many more US troops would be required to act as trainers, cadre,
advisors, etc. etc.

My question (and I'm serious, not attempting to draw fire from our
Republican, pro-administration members) is this.....
Many of you (and I too) have been in the military, either army, navy or air
force, and presumably you were trained to perform your jobs. In my case, I
had four years of ROTC in college, and a six week summer camp. Then when I
went into the army, I spent roughly four and a half months at Ft. Benning,
after which I went off to Korea to do my job.
We've been in Iraq for three and a half years now, and presumably we have
trained a bunch of locals in the art and science of military operations...
So, what's the problem? Are these folks slow learners? Have we been
teaching them in English, which they don't understand? Have no members of
Saddam's former army been recruited into the "new" army?
I'd really like to understand the holdup here, and would appreciate some
serious answers, because as far as I can tell, this is another boondoggle
without an end to it.