Let me first just say that I don't buy the whole Iraqi constitution thing. Essentially what they are voting to enact is a theocracy, and one that actually moves women backwards from where they were under Saddam Hussein (and no, I am NOT arguing that he was a good guy). Moreover, there are widespread reports of election fraud - it seems they learned something from us after all - see this diary on Daily Kos for an account.

In an ever-increasing attempt to get the "terrorists" in Iraq, the US unleashed airstrikes in Ramadi, an Iraqi city west of Baghdad on Sunday. Initial US reports were that 70 "terrorists" were killed. Yet a doctor on the ground says that he personally witnessed twenty of the dead and that six of them were children. He further treated another 25 wounded all of whom, he says, were civilians. See this article for more details.

This story is now being widely reported. If you engage the logic zone of your brain, would you say that you think this kind of information will increase goodwill towards the US, or increase hostility? How many borderline terrorists just crossed over with the vision of dead children right in front of them? I can only imagine.

I used to think that the peace movement was a good counterbalance to the war mongering that got us into Iraq. I was not, however, for pulling our troops out. I just thought it would be egregious to leave those people without even the smallest semblance of stability after we had taken the box labelled "Iraq" and shaken it vigorously and then dumped it upside down on the ground... But I am increasingly believeing that the reason there is so much violence and unrest in Iraq is precisely because we are there. Blowing up women, children and civilians is not helping to this end. So therein lies the conundrum. Do we pull out because eventually our absence will allow these people to rebuild, knowing fully well that the interim period between any pull-out and stability would be indeterminate and fraught with peril for Iraqis or do we stay and invite violence on a smaller scale over a longer period of time?

I just don't have the answer any longer.