First off, Ray, I want to apologize. I did not realize how much of my first sentence in my last post sounds like a personal attack. It is not. I was just trying to make the point that we have to get past the obvious if we are really going to create a viable, long term solution.

Second, JWing and Dave, I am also fascinated by how mailable the Iraqi identity seems to be. Perhaps it is because Saddam never fully instilled a nationalistic identity in those outside his clan/sect. Maybe it is tied more closely to economic conditions. My personal feeling is that it has to do with the hierarchy of identities. Everyone wants to be associated with, and a part of, whomever is on top. But even that does not seem to explain it. It seems that it takes about ten years to alter an identity. The Sunni's have clearly created a new identity since we invaded. But it was not always anti-coalition either. As Dave notes, it is as if the Iraq-Iran war never happened.