Agreed, guys. You can't just pull all the American troops out at once and leave chaos behind you, it has to be done gradually and in a responsible way.

Here's a suggestion: Arrange for a UN peacekeeping force to go in by stages as the USA and the UK withdraw by stages. The UN peacekeeping forces would have to be provided by neutral countries not previously engaged in the conflict, and they would provide some of the covering fire you mention, Rapaire, if necessary.

It might be somewhat difficult to arrange that, but I don't think it would be impossible, because most of the world community would very much like to see that war ended, and the Anglo-American intervention ended.

Also arrange to restore full Iraqi sovereignty over their own oil...and the marketing of that oil. This would be bad news for certain friends and corporate clients of the Bush administration, good news for Iraqis and most likely for the European Union.

It would be a colossal defeat for the Anglo-American powers and their corporate backers, because they would not be controlling the Iraqi oil and military agenda any longer.

That's why I think they will not even consider such a plan, but such a plan may be the best overall solution to a war that otherwise simply cannot be brought to a conclusion.

Seems to me that Dennis Kucinich suggested something pretty much along those lines. He also suggested that America pay war reparations to Iraq for the damage that has been done to that country, and to that I say, damned well right. Major war reparations.

Such reparations should also have been paid to Vietnam, but they never were.