Iraqi readiness.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has stopped releasing its assessment of the number of Iraqi army units deemed capable of battling insurgents without U.S. military help.....

The decision to stop making the information public came after reports showed a steady decline in the number of qualified Iraqi units. That number now is classified, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Victor Renuart, director of strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.....

A spokeswoman for Renuart, Air Force Maj. Almarah Belk, said the Pentagon stopped making the Level 1 report public because of "operational security and not letting the enemy know exactly what the Iraqi security forces' capabilities are."

I'm too lazy right now to do all the digging to track the various ups and downs of US estimates of Iraqi capabilities, but right now the claim is that there are 263,000 total Iraqi Army and Police personnel. The eventual goal is 325,000.

According to current Pentagon claims, there are 56,000 troops at level 2 (able to fight with US support), and none at level 1.

197,000 or 75% of current Iraqi forces are at level 3 or 4 - no breakdown. (level 3 - will fight if a US soldier is there to make them, level 4 - "units being formed" (troops on paper.))

Oh, and just as a kicker, what's the new measure of success?

"The new metric of readiness is how many square miles of Iraq indigenous units have assumed responsibility for. That has shown a two-thirds increase since the beginning of the year."

So, in other words, spread a dozen Iraqi troops in guardshacks around the empty western deserts, and voila, 50% of the country is under the control of Iraqi forces. Now that's an election winning metric.