Way Out

The invaluable Juan Cole, of Informed Comment, and the University of Michigan, on how to end the Iraq war with some hope for a better and more peaceful future:

"The US repression of Sunnis has allowed Shiites and Kurds to avoid compromise... The key to preventing an intensified civil war is US withdrawal from the equation so as to force the parties to an accommodation. Therefore, the United States should announce its intention to withdraw its military forces from Iraq, which will bring Sunnis to the negotiating table and put pressure on Kurds and Shiites to seek a compromise with them. But a simple US departure would not be enough; the civil war must be negotiated to a settlement, on the model of the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Lebanon. "