The country IS going to be blown apart. And it will take a military presence to keep that from happening.

Couldn't agree more. That will happen.

Now, it took a brutal Saddam to hold it together. Just as it took a brutal Tito to hold Yugoslavia together, and an a brutal Stalin to hold the former Soviet Union together. The deaths for which Saddam is responsible are eerily reminiscent of the deaths the uS is causing - they come about for the same reasons.

NOW - is it the responsibility of the US to keep a civil war from occurring? Should American kids die, Americans be deprived of medical care, etc., to prop up a puppet government and prevent a civil war?

And for how long.

The US military is now aware the insurgency cannot be beaten. So, we're looking at a forever situation.

Is that a reasonable expenditure of American lives? Treasure? And the US has given up on the idea of "democracy", and is now praying for stability.

Don't think so, and disagree with you and anyone else who would.

Arf