6 May Real Clear Politics / Roll Call commentary - 'Strategic Patience' Needed on Iraq by Mort Kondracke.

As Congress considers next steps on Iraq War funding, it ought to heed the warning of the U.S. ambassador there: Giving Iraqis the idea that Americans are leaving the scene hurts - not helps - the slow process of Iraqi reconciliation.

"The longer and louder the debate gets" in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Ryan Crocker said in a telephone interview from Baghdad, "the more danger there is that Iraqis will conclude that we are going," leading to "a hardening of attitudes" among sectarian factions.

He said slow progress is being made on the political front in Iraq as well as on the military side, but he said he fears that America lacks "strategic patience" and, as a veteran of service during Lebanon's horrific civil war in the 1980s, "the potential consequences do scare me."...