I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. I know there are many many Iraqis that want peace but my professional assessment is that when we pull out - even if it is 10 years from now - it is going to be nothing but a bloodbath. This time I suspect the shia will win out. The Kurds, as usual, will get screwed.
In the meantime we are wasting huge sums of money and too much blood. We are just putting off the inevitable.
And all along, I have seen progress. I have seen a majority of people who want peace, freedom and prosperity. I have gotten to know these people, both good and bad.
I have seen how the media twists, distorts and outright lies about anything that comes out of Iraq. And I have seen, sadly, how many people just take their word as gospel.
I will return to Iraq as a tourist within ten years and I will visit museums, shops and restaurants without wearing body armor or a weapon. Of this, I have full confidence.
I have made predictions on here before that have been flamed, but I have been right.
As always, I stand by my observations, regardless of what the naysayers have to say.
They have won already, but are more magnanimous than you give them credit for.
The Kurds, as usual, will get screwed.
The Kurds are doing pretty well for themselves, and have demonstrated they can take care of themselves.
The losers are the Sunnis. They were a minority before siding with the terrorists and starting the insurgency. After all their fighting they are about half the population they were, and those who are left are ready to strike a political deal for whatever they can manage - which won't be much but will be more than their population percentage will warrant.