Originally Posted by politicophile

I'm not sure why one would think that withdrawing from Iraq would weaken the insurgency. After all, the insurgency is already killing substantially more Iraqis than Americans. While it is certainly true that the insurgents use anti-American rhetoric to justify their actions, those words look more and more like hot air with every Iraqi death at the hands of the insurgents. OF COURSE the insurgents would like to turn Iraqi public opinion against the United States: a U.S. withdrawal would leave the minimally trained Iraqi Police as the only force maintaining order in the country. The U.S. can begin a gradual withdrawal beginning this year, but only in proportion to the number of available trained Iraqis.