When I worked in Dubai in the oilfield supply boat business we had a saying that as long as the boat was tied up to the dock it will require repair. This meaning that the longer you take care of something the longer it will require you to take care of it.

As long as we are in Iraq the less likely the Iraqis are to take the lead. People like the Iraqis, who are basically working with a 16th century mentality in spite of the 21st. century trappings around them, are never going to 'come up to speed'. They are mired in centuries old traditions, family feuds, religious and class differences, political animosities, land disputes, etc. The US, by getting involved in Iraq for self serving reasons, has created a nest of vipers from which we will never extricate ourselves. We have now created a terrorist training ground like none other ever seen and we nor the next 5 generations of Americans will ever put it right, exactly the way we did not and could not ever put right Viet Nam.