... At the Naval Academy, President Bush talked about how well the Iraqi security forces were fighting. He claimed that 40 Iraqi battalions were taking the lead in the fight against insurgents, and that in the battle of Tal Afar this year, "the assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces - 11 Iraqi battalions backed by 5 coalition battalions providing support."
Anderson Cooper of CNN swiftly produced Time's Baghdad bureau chief, Michael Ware, who was embedded with the US military during the entire Tal Afar battle. "With the greatest respect to the president, that's completely wrong," Mr. Ware said, adding: "I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading."
He also told Mr. Cooper: "I have had a very senior officer here in Baghdad say to me that there's never going to be a point where these guys will be able to stand up against the insurgency on their own."
Mr. Ware recalled that in a battle two weeks ago, he saw an Iraqi security officer put down his weapon and curl up into a ball when he was under attack. "I have seen that on - on many, many occasions," he said........
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/opinion/03dowd.html&OQ=nQ3DTopQ252fOpinionQ252fEditorialsQ2520andQ2520OpQ252dEdQ252fOpQ252dEdQ252fColumnistsQ252fMaureenQ2520Dowd&OP=44de4285Q2FQ3AuIEQ3AwZdccwQ3AQ2BQ2FQ2FhQ3AQ5CQ2BQ3AQ2FFQ3AcfQ5EQ7EQ5EcQ7EQ3AQ2FFQ3BcuQ3BkQ26w68> W.'s Head in the Sand
> By Maureen Dowd
> The New York Times
>
> Saturday 03 December 2005