Well accepting the fact that we have already screwed the situation in Iraq past the point of achieving our stated goals; starting with the grandiose democratization of the Middle East (delusional at the start) to the modest stable unified Iraq (increasingly unlikely) we need to think about a controlled crash. By this I mean leaving Iraq in such a way as it does the least damage to our future foreign policy objectives, and at the lowest cost of US men and materials. This would most likely take the form of a draw down and Iraqization of the war. Simultaneously we should also quietly work with the political powers in Iraq to attempted to set the stage for a very decentralized Iraq; or more likely no Iraq, when the civil war comes try to make it quick allowing for the rapid dissolution of Iraq and re-stabilization of the area.

Obviously this is not the option any one would have wanted but it maybe the best one left. Also the enemy or enemies will get a vote and we will need to work with neighbor countries to pull this off. Finally of course this path of action is unlikely to happen, it is to politically unpalatable for Washington to swallow. In the end I voted to “to cut and run” since I am sure that is what it would be labeled as. To me it is more of cut and fade away but if anyone cared what I thought we would not have invaded Iraq in the first place.