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Bush's fundamental policy has been "As the Iraqi stand up, the US will stand down". This has been policy for over 2 years and carries a fundamental flaw.

The people living in Iraq don't seem to desire a central united government. The continuing sectarian wars clearly indicate that there are divided loyalties among the Iraqi people - regional loyalties, religious loyalties, ethnic loyalties (e.g. the Kurds) and local or tribal loyalties. Commitment to a central government is missing which is responsible for the poor performance of Iraqi national troops who revert to their non-national loyalties the moment they are out from under the watchful eyes of US troop. "Iraqis standing up" is a worn out and bankrupt policy.

Virtually every top ranking American Military leader has projected that the US presence will be required for years to come; ten years seems to be the consensus right now. But these projections are based on the assumption that the Iraqi people will somehow change their allegiance from local levels to the national level. This projection is absurdly optimist. Differences among Iraqis have been going on for centuries; why is 10 more years the "magic" number to reduce and remove troops?

The only sound strategy facing Bush right now is to redeploy the troops in Iraq before the end of his term. He created the problem - he should solve it before he leaves office.

But there will be a catastrophe, some supporters of the war claim. The Iraqi people will start killing each other. Well, what the hell is going on right now? The battle among Iraqis appears inevitable. Withdraw the American troops and let it happen. It might very well be that without American troops as a common enemy, the various factions in Iraq will back away from the predicted "blood bath" and will face the realities of reconciliation. And American lives will be saved.

Learn more about this author, Lorne Yacuk.
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