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The Iraqi Army is gaining strength and is getting better. From what my friends who serve say, they are starting to carry out missions with Americans only providing support when needed. Once we rebuild the strength and confidence of the Iraqi Army, we can start withdrawing. We've already done that completely to a couple major cities, we need to keep that going.
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From what I have read, the Iraqi army still has no leadership and many of the ranks are more loyal to a sectarian militia then they are to the government or army. The same applies to the Interior Ministry forces (ie police). The predominately Shia army and police wont participate in offensives in Shia areas and turn their backs when militias attack in Sunni areas. Over ten thousands US weapons have been stolen from the Iraq military and are in the hands of the militias. I just dont know how anyone can put a positive spin on the capabilities of the Iraq military.
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Originally Posted by Seaver
What is never understood about the MSM is that once we leave many of the militias and insurgents will disband
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Originally Posted by Willravel
We pull out today, the civil war ends, and they are left to run their own country
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I dont know what either of you base your conclusions on, other than hope. The hatred between Shia and Sunni has been so inflamed by the results of our invasion, I think its unrealistic to expect the militias to disband or the civil to end on our departure. There are an estimated 20-30 different militias with allegiences to different sectarian leaders. As long as there is a power struggle within the government, the militias will continue to ac and civilians will be the targets. We have created a quagmire that is beyond short-term repair.
To abandon Iraq completely and immediately is, as Mixmedia said, morally unacceptable. We broke Iraq, we have an obligation to try to fix it, as best we can.
The best course that I see is Wills' option 3 - a slow withdrawal of US troops. But not until we can convince Iraq's moderate neighbors - Egyp, Jordan, Kuwait and`even Turkey (which will piss off the Kurds), Morocco, etc. - to replace our troops with some type of stabilization force to replace the US face of occupation, combined with forceful political pressures by the Arab League on the Iraqi government to disarm the militias. Easier said than done as the Arab League is predominately Sunni and the Iraqi government is not very trustful.
Bottom line, we fucked up and now no one knows what to do.