Interesting exchange on The Corner

MEET THE PRESS [Cliff May]

Tim Russert asked John McCain this morning: We send kids to boot camp and send them to Iraq to fight. Why can’t we do the same with Iraqi kids?

McCain’s answer was good – he noted that Iraqi kids are indeed being trained and sent out to fight and are doing better and better -- but he left this out: We send kids to West Point for four years – and we graduate them as lieutenants, not generals.

The problem with Iraqi forces -- as was explained me at CENTCOM (Central Command) recently -- is not training troops who can acquire a target and fire a rifle. The problem is training a new generation of military leaders with the skills and judgment people in the U.S. military take decades to develop.

RE: MEET THE PRESS [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]

Cliff, you are exactly right.

Fact is, it takes about seven to eight years (including college) to mold an American Army officer into an infantry company commander. Fifteen to 17 years for a battalion commander. Twenty to 22 years for a brigade commander. Twenty-five years for a division commander.

And though American military officers are honing their skills over the years in real world situations, they also have many opportunities to attend the best professional military leadership schools in the world, and no one is shooting at them while they are in school or threatening the lives of their families because they are officers.

What we are accomplishing in Iraq in terms of building the new Iraqi Army from scratch is nothing short of amazing.