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It is good to see the Kurdish block had the guts to stand up against the Sadrists. Fatso is only to impatient for us to leave. The main political parties both Shia and Sunni outside his influence had better keep him in check. I think even Maliki at this stage realize the US forces had better stay around for a long while, with certain units semi or of a permenant nature to continue to build up their military in the years to come.
Iraq needed the Ruskies under Saddam, now they will need the Americans to build them up, as a nice buffer against Syria and Iran.
I believe with the new order in the ME they need not fear the Saudi or Egypt or for that matter all the lesser gulf states. I can see possible deals being made in the future for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to go in with the Iraqi in creating a massive oil/gas pipeline grid, that could lead to all their long term profit margins. Iraq is obviously awash in oil. A solid allince of all the southern gulf states with Iraq would also keep Turkey in check if it starts to go funny in the future. And all this can be possible with a strong US presence in the years to come.
That is unless some future bozos in the US screw the whole equation up.