TB's post below points out an aspect of the current Iraq situation that has not been explored too deeply in the press or in government communiques: my guess is the bombers were Sunni but the children were Shia.

The Sunnis are vastly outnumbered by the Shia, and the Shia have control of the government, considerable militia and military resources, plus plenty of potential aid from Iran. There is little doubt that without the American presence, there would be a bloodbath among the Sunnis, if for no other reason than payback for Saddam and the Sunni terrorism; only the Americans protect Sunnis now from certain annihilation. Certainly most Sunnis are innocent of these atrocities but I have no doubt that outside Sunni elements (Al-Quaeda), foreigners who believe they are fighting America, and Baathist party remnants are responsible for this campaign of inciting ethnic violence. Sooner or later, the Americans will leave, and Iraq will undergo a campaign of ethnic cleansing like the world has not seen in over a half-century.

I find it hard to believe the rest of the Sunni Arab world will sit idly by and allow Sunni Arabs to be massacred by Persian-led Shia. It is almost certain that a general war will erupt in the middle east, and many countries will be dragged in. Even now, the Saudis are moving against the Iranians, even though they have little besides money to back it up. If there were any way the American occupation could possibly defuse this situation, I would counsel we stay in Iraq and try, but I am convinced that we can do nothing now and in fact, we only aggravate the situation and risk either being forced to take sides or wind up uniting both sides against us. We simply do not understand the situation well enough to navigate this labyrinth, and fairly or not, no one there trusts us to do so honestly.

The Sunni insurgency has also grabbed a wolf by the ears here, and they dare not let go. They may have painted themselves into a worse corner than we have, after all, we can always leave, or if necessary, fight our way out. The Sunnis have nowhere to go, the refugee camps in Syria and Jordan are already bulging with millions of Iraqi Sunnis, and the ones in Iran with Shia. Sooner or later, only the the people of the middle east are going to be able to sort this out, all we can do is postpone the day of reckoning, and make it worse by delaying it. The leaders of the surrounding states understand this, and they are perfectly aware they stand to lose everything if the situation explodes. They have every motivation and incentive to prevent war, and I believe they can, but they can do nothing while we are there. They have spent generations convincing their people we are in cahoots with the Israelis, and they can't stop and play ball with us now without putting themselves in grave danger.

No one can predict the future, but I believe it is more likely the situation will resolve itself into some form acceptable to us if we are not there. We no longer exert any influence, we only serve to coerce people into not fighting, and every day it gets harder.