Iraq: Why We Should Leave

The gruesome discovery of dozens of men found shot to death execution-style last week provided more evidence that on the eve of the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the country teeters on the brink of an all-out sectarian civil war.

Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, recently told a Senate committee that sectarian violence was now becoming a greater security concern than the bloody Sunni-led insurgency that has claimed thousands of American and Iraqi lives. And in a speech Monday, President Bush made reference twice to various groups' attempts to ignite a civil war among Iraq's fractious Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

But even as the president suggested that the facts on the ground were changing, he offered no change in U.S. strategy. ``We will not lose our nerve,'' Bush declared, reaffirming his ``stay the course'' posture.

Abizaid did tell reporters Thursday that the United States was still planning on reducing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq if the battling factions manage to form a unity government. But he did not give any specifics on how many troops could leave, nor has the administration set any timeline for withdrawal.

But keeping U.S. troops indefinitely in Iraq will do nothing to calm growing tensions between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites, who are by far the largest group in the country and in the government. That anger has only worsened as some Sunnis waged an insurgency to try to retake control of the country they ran for decades and, more recently, as Shiite-dominated police and military have been accused of torturing Sunnis and operating death squads.

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