Time is Running Out.

US Generals acknowledged yesterday that US troop levels, increased since August, have done little to stem the violence in Baghdad and that a review is in process.

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There's no need for a review. The simple answer is that the Iraqi Government is too weak to police Baghdad much less the entire country of Iraq. There are no quick solutions and the US will continue to suffer a "death by a thousand cuts" until the Iraqi government can impose its will on everyone within its borders.

The only viable plan is to build up the Iraqis until they can police themselves. Its not enough to put soldiers out on the streets for target practice, these kinds of violence must be prevented from happening in the first place. Only Iraqi police acting on intel and information from the Iraqi public can make a civil society. The Iraqis will have to do it. In the meantime, Iraqi borders must be secured to prevent the intrusion of foreign jihadists and the US military should go back to doing what it does best "killing people and breaking things." Here's a group they can start with:

On Thursday, dozens of black-clad gunmen, toting assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, paraded down a main street in Ramadi, one of the most troublesome cities in Anbar province for American troops. They waved banners identifying them as members of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella group for insurgents. The council had recently announced the creation of an Islamic state in the area, independent of the Iraqi government.

“The problem is that the government is weak,” said Sheikh Fassal al-Guood, a former governor of Anbar province, on the brazen demonstration. “This issue takes time, training and weapons. The police force in Anbar now cannot stand up to Al Qaeda fighters.”

Elsewhere, the northern city of Mosul saw an outbreak in violence on Thursday, with suicide bombers targeting a police station and an American convoy, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens more, mostly civilians, a hospital official said.

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Sheik Fassal says that the black robes are al-Qaeda. So, in August, we move troops into Baghdad leaving the western provinces undermanned and in mid-October, a group of black robes put on a show of force in Anbar. Obviously, there are insufficient numbers of US personnel to "clear and hold" and for whatever reason, the Iraqi Army is simply not up to the job. It appears that we have attempted to win on the cheap by not committing enough troops , by trying to minimze casualties through "force protection," and with too little commitment to force projection.

This whack a mohammedan strategy could go on indefinitely but its becoming ever more questionable whether there will be enough time to build up the Iraqis before the US public tires of Iraq and forces a withdrawal.

President Bush told Bill O'Reilly this week, that he understood why polls showed that the American public was unhappy with Iraq - "They want victory."

I think that's an accurate assessment of the mood of the public. A public which has been patient in spite to the MSM and Democratic efforts to undermine the war. The President knows what the polls are indicating. The public wants to see a forceful, capable US military not a timid, hamstrung, garrison army doing its time in one tour after the other.

The public has sent its sons and daughters, husbands and wives and other loved ones to Iraq. The public wants to see dead bad guys and a civil country expressing a little gratitude for its new found freedom and liberties.

Will the Bush Administration do what is necessary to achieve real pacification in Iraq?

If the public doesn't see victory soon, it may just say "to hell with it, bring our boys home."

Time is running out.