We know that a pro-Iranian Shiite government is inevitable in central & southern Iraq, the nation will fragment into at least three semi-autonomous regions regardless of what a new constitution says, & the Sunni minority will never surrender. This moment in the history of Iraq was predestined the day the Ottoman Empire collapsed. The liberal left & the growing anti-neoconservative right need to provide ideas for a tactical withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq (let's not call it a retreat) & an alternative strategy of containment for the region based on a weak central state Iraq that will remain a deadly playground for competing Islamic ideologies. I'm not smart enough to suggest any, but I know this strategic plan will of necessity require that we trash the recently passed energy & transportation bills.