Originally Posted by votetheoneyouhatetheleast

Wont dispute that, I think just about all leaders are like that. Happy to send other people to die for their principals or honor, but not happy to sacrifice themselves. And the fact that Al Sadr is probably in Iran makes it far more likely he'll declare this war and things will get s**tty quickly.

And my point in posting this was to demonstrate that the surge is not the base of the relative peace in Iraq, the diplomacy and negotiation is. The surge just helps.

Someone (I can't remember who sorry it was a few years ago) once said that to competently contain a nation that is hostile you you would need to have a well trained troop for every couple of civilians, or you need to make alliances with some of your enemies.