Roy Gutman, Baghdad Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers, discusses his article “Kirkuk is a ‘land mine’ where all sides want U.S. to stay;” why the majority of Iraq’s elite in government and the military want the US to remain as a stabilizing force; striking a balance on training Iraqi troops, so they are competent enough to repel foreign attacks (nevermind that their country is currently occupied by a foreign army) but not too strong to threaten regional powers; and why Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, though it has disbanded, appears ready to reform at a moment’s notice.
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