One argument for staying in Iraq, for 'staying the course' is that if we pull out, there will be civil war, anarchy, chaos.
When looking at the news reports out of Iraq, it seems that tings are already headed that way. Today, there was yet another bombing in the perpetual war between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq.
From the NYTimes
Religious leaders called for restraint after the attack on the golden-domed shrine, located in the volatile town of Samarra. The shrine housed the tombs of two revered leaders of Shiite Islam and symbolized the place where the Imam Mahdi, a mythical, messianic figure, disappeared from this earth. Believers in the imam say he will return when the apocalypse is near, to cleanse the world of its evils.
While religious leaders are calling for restraint, I don't think this will hold those angry at the (in their view) blasphemous attacks on a revered part of their religion.
In nearly every news article about the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine, the words 'civil war' have been mentioned. The shrine that was bombed and more or less destroyed is one of the most revered to Shi'ites in Iraq. In the tit for tat, it's almost guaranteed that Shi'ites will respond in kind by attacking Sunni Muslims.
And this is order in Iraq. Just imagine chaos.
