We are dealing with an intransigent and indigenous insurgency...not a war front. This kind of resistance can't be stopped with conventional military means.

The idea of training Iraqis to selectively take out the insurgency leadership makes a lot of sense and may be the only way we can extricate ourselves from this mess and protect the lives of our own soldiers.

The danger is if these "hit squads" interpret too broadly the definition of "insurgent" and start enforcing their own political beliefs through assassination. But I have no problem whatsoever with training Iraqis to assassinate those individuals plotting to kill our soldiers and those attempting to bring peace and stability to the country.

Given the practices of the Hussein regime, we should have no problem finding Iraqis with the necessary skills.