Time for a Darwinian "gut check"

Iraq is at critical crossroads. They either form a truly unified coalition government or they fall into an abyss of sectarian violence. An abyss that might prove too deep to crawl out of for years to come. Iraq is NOT in a "civil war" at this point, and they won't be as long as the leaders of all the various factions are still working toward peace.

If that changes and political negotiations to form a new government collapse, and the leaders on all sides begin to encourage and incite violence, then you'll have a true civil war. And if civil war happens, then the Iraqis are simply not mature enough on a political, emotional and evolutionary scale for democracy.

At that point, if I were the President, I'd pull our troops back, not interfere at all and let them kill themselves until they get sick and tired of it or until one side gains control and/or is able to form a coalition government.

I've felt for a long time that unless the Iraqis stood up, locked their knees and took back their country, that they didn't deserve one. For the life of me, I've never understood how they could have lived under Saddam for all those years. Why the Iraqis didn't have the courage to defy and overthrow Saddam is beyond me.

I've become encouraged of late, as I've seen some good signs from the Iraqis in recent months. Things that I wasn't sure they had the courage to do. Either they have the courage to make the tough choices, form a government and hunt down and kill those that are trying to push their country down the slippery slope of civil war, or they don't.

We've done the heavy lifting for the Iraqis for the first 2.5 yrs of this war. Over the last 6 months, they have begun to take on a lot more responsibility. Do they they have the guts and determination to "right their ship" before it is too late?

Time will tell if they have the courage for the "gut check" needed to be truly free. Time will tell if the Darwinian scale for the Iraqis has progressed enough for them to evolve into a modern democracy. I for one am hoping that it has.