Stand to, the guns crew. Oh... what gun?

First, you take all their weapons away, disband their military and let the looters take over. Then, you start from scratch and find that it takes longer than you expected to train a whole new military force. Then, you complain when they don't learn fast enough. Then, while you're off trying to train law enforcement, military, dog-catchers, etc., a bunch of guys with political aspirations move in to fill the vacuum you've created. Got that so far?

Then, after you've figured out that things are going really badly, you throw a little hissy fit and threaten the indigenous character you put in charge with dismissal if he doesn't get on with the job. You make sure he knows it by laying out "benchmarks". Then...

[Iraqi prime minister] Nouri al-Maliki said the insurgency had been bloodier and prolonged because Washington had refused to part with equipment. If it released the necessary arms, US forces could “drastically” cut their numbers in three to six months, he told The Times.

So, you sit there and say, "That can't be true." After all, Bush has been running off the mouth like a soup sandwich for the last week that the American people have a limit. American help is not open-ended. So, it can't really be true.

The US Government is wary of handing over large amounts of military hardware to the Iraqis because it has sometimes ended up in the hands of militias and insurgents.

Gordon Johndroe, the White House national security spokesman, conceded that some of Mr al-Maliki’s criticism was “valid”. The training and equipping of Iraqi troops would be speeded up, he said, adding that by “self-admission we have had to redo our training and equipment programme”.

It is true!

I am absolutely stunned that the Bush administration could fuck that up. Just stunned.