Bring the troops home

"Ultimately, our military presence might be making the situation worse, as Iraqi political leaders hide behind our troops and refuse to make compromises necessary for peace. In fact, the very things that President Bush credits with helping reduce violence — the surge in U.S. troops in Baghdad, the arming of former Sunni insurgents and the cease-fire called by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — inflame sectarian tensions and obstruct political compromise in Iraq."