‘Sons Of Iraq’: After The Money’s Gone

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) wants to know: we’re paying 91,000 mostly-Sunni militiamen not to shoot us. What happens when the money runs out?

“We’re seeing more and more burden sharing, cost-sharing,” Petraeus said of the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government has allocated $300 million for a project that has cost the U.S. at least $123 million; and a further $500 million for further reconstruction projects.

All well and good. But Petraeus appears to be way too close to the so-called “Sons of Iraq” program. He hasn’t once addressed the obvious challenge the Sons of Iraq pose to the future stability of Iraq. Should anyone be confident in a solution for the proliferation of militias that relies upon an incompetent and politically-weak Iraqi government?