More trainers, not more targets

Add Oliver North to the list of those who support our action in Iraq but oppose a troop surge. Many have focused their objections to a surge on Baghdad, arguing that an increase of troops there will produce a surge in American casualties without a lasting reduction in sectarian violence.
North focuses on Anbar province where he has spent considerable time. He points out that the powerful Sunni tribal leaders there, who are cooperating with local U.S. military commmanders and the Shia-led government in Baghdad, want more American trainers and civil affairs personnel, not more American troops. North himself believes that the new National and Provincial police forces are increasingly effective in Anbar province, that this is a war the Iraqi poeple must win for themselves, and that to send more U.S. combat troops (as opposed to more trainers) is simply to send more targets.