An increase which is what I'm currently leaning towards might be pointless and should not be attempted without clear cut goals as our troups are stretched thin. The only thing I'd quibble with is that the withdrawal should begin immediately without some open discussion of whether or not more troups could help. Bush and Rummey have stifled that debate for years. It's time to have it. I do feel an increase in troups has to be short term and than a flexible timetable for withdrawal should be implemented to pressure Iraqi's to take more responsibility for solving their civil strife.

We did not get into this to put one side in charge and if they are determined to fight until only one side is in power again then there is relatively little we can do other than start over from scratch forcing a new constitution and government which enforces a divison or better power sharing. At this point that just isn't realistic given how much this war has depleted our resources and how little credibility such a government would have. We simply can't eliminate the foreign terrorists in the midst of the current chaos. It's too difficult to distinguish the combatants. We either do what it takes to restore order soon or we will loose the opportunity to do so if it's not already too late.