[Fly]

So everytime I see a politician or commentator talk about solutions to the situation in Iraq they invariably claim atleast one of the two following things (and many others, but thats another post).

1) The solution is to train Iraqi troops and have them stand up for themselves.

lol, Assume for the sake of argument that they are all reasonably trained, loyal and dedicated. Even so, they still won't be anywhere near the caliber of the U.S army so how can they be expected to do something the U.S army can't do?

2) The solution to Iraq is related to the settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian issue.

First of all, the people who claim this also assert that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war (which I agree with) or at the very least it is involved in "sectarian strife". That is, these people are fighting over who will control the government, oil wealth,....whatever after we inevitably leave. So are we to believe that the sunni insurgents will accept living in a country dominated by the people they formely oppressed (who are naturally hellbent on retribution) in exchange for a Palestinian state? LOL (or Shia's sharing power equitably when they will otherwise get everything)

The point these people make is that we can trade concessions on the Israel/Palestine issue in exchange for them (assume honestly) blocking the passage of foreign supplies and fighters. Well ok, that will help some but remember Iraq is in a civil war and while this will certainly weaken the sunnies to some extent but they will not concede anything as for the sunnies concession = death and/or subjugation. They will fight on no matter what, even if it is clear that they will lose. As they say, wars do not end when they are won, they end only when enough people have been killed.

Just to add, I do believe that a settlement in the near future is in both America/Israel's interests but for reasons which have nothing to do with Iraq.