Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks’ piece exposes the serious U.S. failures to train Iraqi security forces and confirms the worst fears of many Americans.
We’re not succeeding at this, either.
Remember, training Iraqis to stand up has been the centerpiece of U.S. strategy for getting out of Iraq, and is likely to figure large in the Baker study group recommendations.
The Army’s own exit interviews with officers found widespread criticism of the training efforts as under-resourced, undermanned and underplanned. As Ricks reports, “Many said they felt poorly supported by the Army while in Iraq, with intermittent shipments of supplies and interpreters who often did not seem to understand English.”
Sound familiar? Further evidence of the administration’s almost criminal incompetence and poor planning.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
State Sen. Phil Journey (in photo), R-Haysville, is also a lawyer who is currently representing perhaps the worst offender in the city’s recent campaign to fight blight.
Neighbors have been complaining about Gregory Gracey’s trashed property at 10th and Volutsia for more than a decade, to no effect.
After the city of Wichita filed an injunction against the property to have it cleaned up, Journey issued a statement saying he had gotten a local business to donate a trash bin and adding, “I think it’s unfortunate this community has chosen not to help one of its citizens.”
Remember: Blame long-suffering neighbors for blight — they should have cleaned it up themselves.
You wonder if Journey’s message would be the same if this rat hole was in his district.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Don’t expect the new Senate Intelligence Committee to be a lot like the old one under Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan. New Chairman Jay Rockefeller (in photo), D-W.Va., who was often at odds with Roberts, promised on CNN Radio last week that he’d have a “cleanup agenda” ready for January. “It’s not understandable to me, but the majority party sort of didn’t want to do a lot of oversight,” Rockefeller said. He sees the committee’s job as “holding people accountable, and what I hope to do is be aggressive on that.” Rockefeller also wants to expedite the interminable review of what went wrong with the prewar intelligence on Iraq and to be aggressive in reviewing the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping and secret prisons. Rockefeller’s committee will be different, but will it impede or enhance national security?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Acting on something Gov. Kathleen Sebelius started last year, the Kansas State Department of Education has made a forward-thinking deal with China’s Office of Chinese Language Council International that should mean more Kansas children can study Chinese in school. As it is, only nine school districts offer Chinese instruction, mostly through distance learning. The agreement should increase the numbers of teachers in Kansas qualified to teach Chinese. “School districts are waking up to this. Businesses are asking school districts to teach students Chinese,” said Nancy Hope, associate executive director for education at the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas’ Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Still, having the opportunity to enroll and actually doing it are two different things.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas lawmakers and the governor may wonder whether divesting the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System from Sudan would be worth the trouble. They now have some high-profile opinions to the contrary, what with Tuesday’s joint letter to governors from Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urging such divestiture. In addition, four Democrats and two Republicans in the U.S. House — none from Kansas — sent letters to Sebelius and other governors calling for state pension funds to get out of Sudan and add to the pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the genocide. As Brownback said on the issue last week: “Divestment helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, and I hope the example already set by six states will inspire other governors to take action.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
