U.S. Military, Iraq Still Hoping U.S. Will Keep Troops There Forever

Senior U.S. and Iraqi military officials have been in negotiations about keeping some 10,000 American troops in Iraq beyond the scheduled withdrawal of all U.S. forces at year's end, according to officials familiar with the talks.

But the discussions face political obstacles in both countries, and have faltered in recent weeks because of Iraqi worries that a continued U.S. military presence could fuel sectarian tension and lead to protests similar to those sweeping other Arab countries, U.S. officials say.

The only fitting ending to this whole dumb war is the people of Iraq overthrowing the cute U.S.-imposed democracy so they can set up... a democracy. One they were probably going to fight to put into place around this time anyway. The way these Arab dominoes are falling so deterministically, according to breathless commentators, we will probably soon see huge protests on the streets against the rule of Saddam. [ WSJ ]