Flippant Tony Snow

I was disturbed by the flip attitude expressed by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow regarding the level of training new U.S. 'surge' troops will get before going to Iraq:

White House press secretary Tony Snow on reports that two U.S. combat brigades will "surge" into Iraq without undergoing the usual counterinsurgency training in California's Mojave Desert first: "Well, but they can get desert training elsewhere, like in Iraq."

There was a big article last year in the New York Times regarding this kind of training. Even though it occurs at Ft. Irwin in the Mojave Desert, it is not desert training. They've set up a mock Iraqi town, and soldiers learn vital skills, like how to hold a town full of civilians without compromising basic security by trusting the wrong people. They also teach soldiers urban street fighting, with particular focus on Iraqi conditions. Without this focused training, 'surge' soldiers will be painfully underequipped for the chaotic realities of Iraq - sitting ducks, really. Training saves lives. For Snow to gloss over that is shameful.