Second, the talk of pulling out (I'm a minority in this group, I think we should, and I explained my position elsewhere on the site) is not going to force Iraq to solve its problems, because Iraq only exists in our memories. We destroyed its sovereignty and we're the only ones that maintain it. However, it will force Iraq's neighbors to come to grips with what having a basket case for neighbor means, and drive some regional responses, hopefully solutions.
I think you have more company than you realize, Bill. The key element is of course defining pull out. I had the opportunity two days ago when a senior instructor from DLI stopped in. An Iraqi Christian who knows my instructors from 1982 (an Iraqi Christian married to an Iraqi Sunni), he was looking at langauage related training and we chatted for 2 hours or so. I asked about ethnic divisions inside Iraq and he described them as fault lines. I took the opportunity to demomstrate how this worked to my office mates by asking him to decribe his reaction to the fact that my instructors had married across these fault lines. He said, "we have ex-communicated her (the Christian). We have nothing to do with her." Keep in mind now that this guy and my instructors have been out of Iraq for decades and are quite westernized. My office companions later admitted they were surprised by this reaction.

I think too many wishful thinkers have been surprised by the reactions inside Iraq based on what I call assumetric planning. We have to move beyond that; the ultimate fate of "Iraq" will be decided by whether the inhabitants decide to retain an "Iraqi" identity. we may be able to frame that decision, but military force alone will not suffice and in many ways at this stage may be gasoline on a fire. The most interesting thing I have seen this week were peeps coiming out of Iran, via approved "open" channels, that Iran's foreign policy establishment is very concerned we might pack it up and leave. That is the sort of leverage we need to use in politically framing what happens next.

Best
Tom