Making It Up As They Go Along

There seems to be growing confusion among US military and officials as one plan leads to another and then another, none of them working. According to Newsday:

"The decision to even consider putting a former Iraqi general in charge of Iraqi troops was a significant reversal from the United States' original policy that barred former regime leaders and Baath party members from having any authority in a new Iraq. But a pair of Marine generals overseeing Fallujah said Thursday they had chosen Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh after he stepped forward and offered to organize a brigade of 1,100 men.

But senior Pentagon leaders immediately sought to distance themselves from that move, denying any deal was finalized and finally saying Sunday that Saleh would not head the new brigade. That job now appears likely to go to Maj. Gen. Mohammed Latif, who once was imprisoned by Saddam Hussein.

Some Iraqis complained that Saleh, a former member of Hussein's Republican Guard, may have been involved in the regime's repression, including putting down a Kurdish uprising in 1991. "