Is there no point at which you'll concede that our military involvement in the Iraq War is counter-productive? You used to be my straight-talking candidate; no longer. We're pouring good money after bad, and engendering ill will to boot. How is the US military going to arbitrate a civil war between parties that don't really want to live together in a common nation-state?  After 9-11, we had the sympathy of the world; now our presence is despised even by Saudi Arabia.