What's worse is that if we leave now and Iraqi citizens are just left as war bait for the next regime minded soon-to-be dictator in 10 or 20 years not only will the next regime hate us but their citizens will all remember how thier mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters were all murdered after being abandoned by the great Satan USA and will hate us so much that they'll be our next batch of bombers, hijackers, and assorted terrorists.
Early on, the british fueled the civil unrest in the south. 2 of their SF men got caught in basra (i think basra) with bombmaking materials dressed in muslim garb. they were tossed in prison. UK forces stormed the prison and it was a big battle. got lots of coverage. pics of a UK tank on fire was everywhere. they later apologized for the 'misunderstanding'.
the social unrest was by design - we tore down their entire infrastructure except the oil ministry.
Now, we are signing contracts for 41 longterm bases, we are signing contracts to manage their oil in dollars, and the civil unrest which was beneficial for justifying the building of all these things - is a little out off control. we're paying off militias not to fight, and to fight those who refuse to be paid off to fight. Tons of guns, literally thousands of pounds of guns, have disappeared, as have millions of dollars. bribes to "settle down in this area, please".
Hell, that's why al-sadr is sitll breathing. we needed him for unrest in the south. he got organized and now we cna't control him.
