Hey guys. I was thinking about Iraq Study Group Report, which was welcomed by Prime Ministers, Tony Blair and John Howard, however was rejected by the Bush Administration. Bush chose to enlarge US troops rather than withdraw them like Baker-Hamilton commission suggested. I would personally tend to the strategy of withdrawal, however by securing that Iran, which is extremely hostile against the West and Israel, would not take over the control of the Middle Eastern matters. There would be nothing worse than that. By the way, the solution Obama promotes is clearly wrong. The U.S. cannot just withdraw the troops and leave a big black hole behind them. It would harm U.S. interest in the Middle East and worldwide, (and generally the interests of the Western civilization as a whole). I think that the immediate result of a sudden withdrawal would be another terrorist attack on the U.S. soil, this time with weapons of mass destruction (see recent reports by EastWest Institute: http://www.ewi.info/tempPDF/tn7.pdf and Chatham House http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/r...s/CBRN0207.pdf) In my opinion the solution would be a withdrawal (eventually we will have to unless McCain becomes the next President) however through strengthening the position in the region of Turkey, which is US ally and which presently endeavors to join the European Union. It can be done in the way it is described in this extensive study: http://www.europeancourier.org/27.htm Put briefly: Iraq should be partitioned in two parts: Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest. Then the Iraqi Kurdistan should be joined to Turkey which would expand to include that territory. Turkey would be transformed into a federal state (like the United States) and would contain the heartland Turkey and the Kurdistan. The Kurdistan would be a part of the federation. It would have enormous impact on Iran and Syria (the biggest terrorist supporters), because they have huge Kurdish minorities within their territories. As a result of the creation of Kurdistan within federal Turkey, Iranian and Syrian Kurds would demand the same thing within Iran or Syria or might start secessionist movements. That would cause Iran and Syria to focus on their internal affairs rather than on disturbing situation in Iraq. Turkey would become regional superpower and would overshadow Iran; moreover because the Kurdish issue would be resolved satisfactory, Turkey would meet human rights requirements of the Council of Europe and would be able to join the European Union. Turkey would become the role model of democracy in the Middle East (Iraq will never be such a one even if Bush remained in power for the next two terms) and would gain control over the Kurdistan within their borders. Therefore there would be no new Kurdish-Turkish conflict.