Reply #5: I question whether our troops are really what's keeping the country stable--

[TwilightGardener]

In select areas where they're concentrated, and where we tightly control the comings and goings of civilians, certainly. But a nation of millions cannot be controlled by 150,000 soldiers, or even 300,000--adding in Blackwater/contractor numbers. I think the Iraqis--and the insurgents and troublemakers, and Moqtada al Sadr--have figured out that the best way to get us to leave was to lay low and wait. I believe the tribal troubles and the power-jockeying problems will rear their ugly heads as we withdraw, which will be blamed on Obama. Unfortunate, but true. The surge just delayed the inevitable--centuries of underlying tensions, combined with a fairly weak government that does not have the faith of the people, will come back to haunt Iraq as we disassemble our checkpoints and roadblocks and curfews and patrols and payoffs. We created an artificial "peace" that will probably not last, but only the Iraqis can stabilize Iraq in the long term--we can't do it for them.