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At what point will we stop listening to these people?

Although it has been said before about previous new years, it seems very likely that 2007 will be make or break time in Iraq.

That's Nina Kamp, a senior research assistant at the Brookings Institution, and Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at Brookings, writing in today's NYT.

Listen to this analysis:

It is still possible to find signs of hope in our running statistics on Iraq — the number of Iraqi security forces who are trained and technically proficient, the gradually improving economic output, the number of children being immunized. But those same children cannot feel safe on the way to school in much of today’s Iraq; economic growth is a top-down phenomenon having little effect on the unemployment rate or well-being of Iraqis in places like Anbar Province and the Sadr City slum in Baghdad; and those increasingly proficient security forces remain politically unreliable in many cases, just as inclined to stoke sectarian strife as to contain it.

You got that? It is a sign of hope that more security forces are trained and technically proficient, even though they are "just as inclined to stoke sectarian strife as to contain it."

Think that through. "Just as inclined" means that for every one of the "good guys" we train, we also train one of the "bad guys." We are, by their own logic, training and arming both sides in a civil war. We are, by their own logic, making the problem demonstrably worse, not better.

Here's a prediction for you: A year from now, you are going to be reading the same thing in the very same newspaper. 2008 "will be make or break time in Iraq," and so long as we don't lose our will, we'll "win."

How many more people need to die before these fools admit they've made a mistake? How many more sons and daughters will need to come home in coffins before this madness ends?

I am not opposed to all wars. But I am opposed to stupid wars. And unnecessary wars. And this is both.

UPDATE: God help these people. I wrote the post before I clicked though to the graphic. It's quite informative. All of it is worth your attention, but I want to highlight this one part:

Now reread what they wrote:

those increasingly proficient security forces remain politically unreliable in many cases, just as inclined to stoke sectarian strife as to contain it

There are 115,000 trained Iraqi security forces who they consider "technically proficient." But only 10,000 of them - or one out of every 11.5 - are politically reliable. "just as inclined" means something resembling 50%. This is less than 10%.

"just as inclined" is a bald-faced lie. We have trained 115,000 people, and only 10,000 of them are willing to fight for their country.

If that doesn't prove everything I've been saying about Iraq, I don't know what would.