STRAINED

Department of Defense announced recently that it will keep U.S. troop strength in Iraq at about 145,000 for the indefinite future, and the Army announced a plan to rotate units currently stationed in Iraq after they have served about a year.

Defense had hoped to be withdrawing troops from Iraq by now, but the discovery of a large Ba'athist resistance network in June, the upsurge of violence since then and the failure of other nations to contribute as much to peacekeeping forces as the Bush administration had hoped put the kibosh on that.

Some 30 nations are helping out in Iraq, but only Britain and Poland are providing more than token assistance.

A number of Democratic notables have suggested that the Bush administration swallow its pride and go hat in hand to the United Nations. But the U.N. record of peacekeeping in Rwanda, Bosnia, Congo, Somalia and Sierra Leone does not inspire confidence that turning over responsibility for reconstructing Iraq to that body would have a happy outcome.

If we are to succeed in Iraq, Iraqis must assume responsibility for governing themselves, and for protecting themselves. The sooner that process begins, the sooner we can declare victory and come home.

The process has begun, and is in fact well under way, though successes are largely being ignored by a news media that seems determined to paint as bleak a picture as possible.

When Iraqis supplement, and eventually replace, Americans on peacekeeping and security duties, three good things happen:

• The number of U.S. troops required to provide security in Iraq declines.

• The threat to the U.S. troops still in Iraq diminishes, because they will be less vulnerable to attack.

•Unemployment in Iraq diminishes and the number of Iraqis dependent upon the United States for their livelihood increases. This has a beneficial impact upon loyalty.

The place to begin in Iraq is where the Marines have begun, by training Iraqis to be security guards at schools, hospitals, mosques and other important public buildings now mostly being protected by U.S. troops.