Iraq 101: Mother Jones

The American Magazine Mother Jones has published a pretty solid primer on Iraq and the war. I recommend you all check it out.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/iraq_101.html

Here's a sample of what you'll read:

With Friends Like These

41 cents of every dollar of American reconstruction money is spent on the Iraqi military or police.
3 cents goes to “democracy building.”
A newly recruited Iraqi soldier makes $60 a month.
Iraqi units report that half of their soldiers go awol when sent to new combat areas. The Pentagon says it’s trying to instill “a more deployable mindset.”
Of the 323,000 members of Iraq’s security forces, 1/3 are considered “technically proficient” and only 10,000 are “politically dependable.”
American trainers report that 70% of the police force has been infiltrated by militias.
90,000 rifles and 80,000 pistols supplied to the Iraqi security forces cannot be accounted for.