Gen. Douglas Lute is not impressed with the Iraqi government’s non-action and thinks that we could motivate them to start acting like they have a backbone if we stopped

Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, a skeptic of the troop increase in Iraq and President George W. Bush’s choice to oversee the war, said withdrawing troops may pressure the Iraqi government to make needed changes.

Under questioning from Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, Lute said the Michigan Democrat may be correct in his long-held assertion that the Iraqi government will only work to end sectarian strife if it has to.

A withdrawal “ought to be considered,” Lute, 54, said during the committee’s hearing in Washington on his nomination as a coordinator of war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And then of course this:

“I registered concerns that a military ’surge’ would likely have only temporary and localized effects unless it were accompanied by counterpart ’surges’ by the Iraqi government and the other non-military agencies of the U.S. government,” Lute said.

The final troop-increase plan “took such concerns into account,” but progress to date is “uneven,” he said.

“We face persistent violence, insufficient progress in governance and the economy and unhelpful influences from Syria and Iran,” he said.

It’s amazing how everyone except for the man in the chair in the Oval Office sees what’s going on so clearly.

How long before General Lute’s out? That is indeed the question.