MORE PROGRESS

''I'm going home with a purpose,'' said Jassim Mohammed Sultan, a former member of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia. ''I joined the ICDC so I can protect myself, my family and my community.''...

The new ICDC recruits said they believed joining the U.S.-trained forces was the only way of ensuring power would be handed back quickly to Iraqis.

''I want to rebuild Iraq, not just sit and complain about it,'' said former bodybuilding champion Issam Khaduri who will earn $60 a month as a private. ''I admire the Americans' technology. We can learn from them and do things for ourselves.''

An American sergeant who helped train the Iraqis in weapon use, first aid and checkpoint control shared Khaduri's pragmatic approach.

''We want to leave Iraq and the Iraqis want us to leave,'' he said. ''So the quicker we get these guys trained, the better it is for all of us.''

He's right, of course. Of course, France and Germany want us to leave too, but their do nothing approach isn't quite as pragmatic.