The attacks on U.S. troops grow in complexity while Iraqis thirst for a final crushing victory, not over us, but over each other. Reading the latest out of Iraq is an exercise in self-flagellation. Deep down, even though I hold no responsibility for this debacle, I really want Iraq to avoid years of civil and sectarian bloodshed. When wingnuts make arguments about how we have a responsibility to prevent the worst, I do feel a twinge on my heartstrings. I don't want to be a heartless bastard.

But it's just not something we can solve. I've looked at this conflict eighteen hundred different ways and I've tried to think of things we can do to keep Iraq from descending into a pit of hell. I've never been able to come up with an answer.

Iraq is different from Kosovo or Somalia or Rwanda or Darfur. We didn't create those messes. We have no credibility to tackle the problem of Iraq.

And I really believe Iraq is a problem like Palestine or Cyprus or Kashmir or Northern Ireland. It's intractable. There aren't easy answers. The factions probably have to exhaust each other...and the US isn't going to help that process by sticking around and trying to pump their oil.

Sitting in the cool recesses of his home, the white-robed sheik said he was a moderate, a supporter of democracy. It is for people like him that the Americans have fought this war. But the solution he proposes is not one the Americans would easily embrace.

“In the history of Iraq, more than 7,000 years, there have always been strong leaders,” he said. “We need strong rulers or dictators like Franco, Hitler, even Mubarak. We need a strong dictator, and a fair one at the same time, to kill all extremists, Sunni and Shiite.”

I was surprised to hear those words. But perhaps I was being naïve. Looking back on all I have seen of this war, it now seems that the Iraqis have been driving all along for the decisive victory, the act of sahel, the day the bodies will be dragged through the streets.

It gives me no pleasure to agree with this sheik. I wish it were not so that Iraq needs a ruthless leader, a Hitler or Franco or Muhbarak, to restore order. But, it is either that, or it is this. And this isn't working.

Bush wants to stay in Iraq and he wants us to accept the bodycount as the cost of doing business. It doesn't really matter what I say about that because I am not the deciding voice. It's already crystal clear that the American public is not willing to pay this price as the cost of doing business. We'll keep defeating politicians that support this war until there are no politicians that support this war left in office. They want this:

Administration officials and top military leaders declined to talk on the record about their long-term plans in Iraq. But when speaking on a not-for-attribution basis, they describe a fairly detailed concept. It calls for maintaining three or four major bases in the country, all well outside of the crowded urban areas where casualties have soared. They would include the base at Al Asad in Anbar Province, Balad Air Base about 50 miles north of Baghdad, and Tallil Air Base in the south.

That's simply not going to happen.