All very good points Dave. To carry on this discussion, three fourths of  the 
money set aside to "rebuild" iraq has been spent. Schools have been built,  
hospitals have been built, but neither can be used because they don't have  
electricity, water or sewer for the buildings. They are nothing but empty  
shells. This happened because the death toll is rising to the point that nobody  
will work for the Americans as subcontractors. If they do, they die.
Electrical service has risen just slightly since the invasion. Oil  
production is just a dribble because of the constant explosions of the pipe  lines and 
oil fields.
To fix Iraq is going to require a multi national force of 500,000 or so and  
a long term commitment. The new government must take control and represent all 
 the people's of the region. I don't have a problem with dividing the country 
 into states, aligned by tribal borders. We also need to secure the borders 
and  either imprison or evict non resident combatants and take away all weapons 
from  the citizenry. Make the possession of any weapon a crime which caries 
such a  high price that it will not be violated, except for the extremists. It 
will make  it easier to identify and destroy them. This won't be easy, but 
continuing on  the course we are presently on is nothing more than a dead end 
road. We need to  correct what was wrong from the beginning or get the hell out 
and let the area  collapse.
 
Rummy