Reply #41: Why not US out, no other foreign troops in?

[debsianben]

I mean, why assume that the Iraqis aren't capable of managing their own affairs, even in the "interim"? Even US-sponsored polls show that the great majority of Iraqis wouldn't see a US-appointed interim government or even a UN-appointed interim government as legitimate, and similar numbers see recent events in Najaf and Fallujah as a justified revolt against colonialism. And why shouldn't they? As far as I'm concerned, the best solution would be an immediate and unconditional withdrawal, and just let the rebel militias provide security and organize new elections.

Sure, an ideally secular democratic state wouldn't come out of this (I'm all in favor of secular democratic states, but that's for local secular democrats to fight for), but it would probably incorporate much more democratic processes than anything set up by the U.S. or by the great-power-dominated U.N.