Ralph Peter describes the (inevitable) comparison, and the question of what will happen if we pull out.

The [American liberal] left doesn't care how many Iraqis die, as long as President Bush can be humiliated. Four years ago, the neocons fantasized about a post-Saddam Age of Aquarius. Now the Murthacrats insist that, once we bail out, Atlantis will rise from the Tigris and Euphrates. The willful naivete is identical. The only differences are the timing and who gets blamed.

Look at Gaza, at the orgy of self-destructive savagery, the macho idiocy, the junkyard-dog religion and the murder-suicide cult sweeping Arab civilization. Then note that, barring a few fringe players, only two sides are fighting in the Gaza Strip.

That may be true, but if Arab civilization is truely incapable of ruling itself, as soon as we pull out, anarchy will ensue. Therefore, the timing doesn't matter. I hope and pray that is wrong, though. Iraq is different from other Arab states in that it has a huge bounty of oil at it's disposal, and a moderately educated populance (which is being depleted every day by killings and mass exodus of smart people). But these two factors alone may allow Iraq to rise from anarchy and have a truly stable state.