I do not see the situation in Iraq nearly as bleak. The elected members of the current Government of Iraq know that none of the Sunni and few of the Shiite will survive the next election. There are a whole new group of proven “grass root” leaders in their home areas. I suspect after the next election you will see less sectarian influence. The rapprochement at the community level is real and growing. Let us not set a higher standard of integrity in Iraq then we have here in the U.S.A. Just look how well our own congress is getting along. The two major parties are more interested in seeing to it that the other side does not look good for any reason then passing meaningful legislation. The only thing both sides will agree on is that “earmarks” are sacrosanct. Yet both sides will publicly denounce “earmarks” as rank corruption when used by the other side. Look at our history of gerrymandering to insure the party in power stays in power, rather then the true will of the people if election districts were based unbiased community boundaries.

Given time Iraq will be like Germany and Japan beacons of democracy and industry. Once the people in the Middle East see how well the people fare when true meaningful elections take place, they will demand the same in their countries. A plurality of Muslims are Hanafi Sunni. They have now seen up close and personal what Wahhabism radicals have in store for them, and want no part of it. Contrary to popular opinion in American press the vast majority of Shiites in Iraq are NOT in bed with the Iranian Shiites. They have their own religious leaders (Ayatollahs) the Fatwa of one Ayatollah does not put any obligation on the follower of any other Ayatollah.

The Democrats missed a golden opportunity last year. If they backed the surge, and General Petraeus, and took credit for President Bush’s change in strategy after the last election, today they would be taking FULL credit for our success, and leaving President Bush stuck with all the past bad decisions. The Democrats would have put the Republicans into a minority status for another generation. For purposes of full disclosure I consider myself a “Lieberman Democrat”

The next election will probably not change anything. We made a huge mistake jumping right into a national election without building up any kind of local or regional power structure, just like we made a mistake by destroying the existing political and military bureaucracy. Not sure why we did it, but now that the Shi'ites have power, they're not likely to share it—and with their numbers, they can command a majority in any democratic process. The Sunnis will either get used to being a mostly disenfranchised minority or they won't.

We could have thought this through much more thoroughly than we did, and since we fought the war entirely at our own initiative and on our own timetable, we had no excuse not to.

Mr Roths unhistorical mad perspective is the kind that scares the wits out of one.

How many times need it be said that the US with its lack of proper strategies is not mastering the mess it has created in Iraq whileas the US was the winner and could therefore

dictate conditions for Germany and Japan 60 years ago.

The worst part of this war as of every war is the damage done to the individual. Has noone noticed how war changes

young people into the scum of the earth.