Iraq

Discussions about when and how to pull out of Iraq tend to ignore one very important point:

Iraq has an independent, sovereign, democratic government.

Any talk in our congress of splitting up the country is moot, we have no input anymore.
If we had any interest in ever leaving, then Bush could diffuse this whole issue quite simply by making it clear to both democracies that the US would pull out when either A)the US believed they had fufilled their obligation to stabilize Iraq after the war, or B) the US was asked to leave by the Iraqi government; whichever happened first.
This would put the ball firmly in the court of the Iraqi people. 'Do you want our troops protecting you? or do you want to rely on your own police and military?' We might still be there for years, but frankly I think we would owe them that.
I think it more likely though, that the Iraqis would start pressuring their government that very hour, and the request for a pull-out would come within a week.

My point is that however noble the justification for the war, they have a legitimate government there now, and we have no right to be there if they do not want us.

There are, of course, some problems with this scenario:
Bush will never set any pullout conditions, and will never pull out.
Their 'democracy' is owned by our 'democracy', and 'we' don't want to pull out.
The Iraqi resistance knows this.