The only way out of the Iraq is to secure it. Securing Iraq requires more troops, much more. But, leaving would be a disaster for the people of Iraq, who deserve better than for us to leave them to fight it out on their own indefinetely. As rational folks, we should at least consider a temporary but substantial increase in troop levels in Iraq. Hear me out...
It appears that the consensus on the left is to pull the troops out, immediately. But, what a complete disaster this would be! Civil war would openly break out (if it has not already), innocent Iraq's would be caught in the middle, and the war would drag on for god knows how long. Think about Guatemala in the 50's. There, the US overthrew a democratically elected president and attempted to secure the nation with coup leaders: the result; 50 years of civil war. We (progressives/democrats) did not want this war (although our "leaders" did zero to stop it). But, here we are and we have choices to make. What to do? Some have suggested that to secure Baghdad alone would require at least 3 more brigades. The point is to sweep and hold--hold being the key point. As an Airborne Infantryman at one point in my life, I played the OPFOR. We were trained to infiltrate, intimidate, and ambush; then, when the regular Army shows up, ambush and split. The counter to this is to sweep and hold your position. This would result in security, which is a prerequisite to freedom, democracy, commerce, all the things that Iraqi's deserve as people. So, maybe we should at least consider raising troop levels for an as yet undetermined but NOT indefinite period. Secure the nation, train the Iraqi's the right way, and get out (Murthas over the horizon plan). We should not indulge in knee jerk get the fuck out reactions that do no one any good.