re: "They Don’t Understand the Incentives (Updated)"

Glittering Eye comments on coverage of Sen. Warner's recent statements.

Money quote(s):

"Maliki’s government aren’t the representatives of the people—they’re the representatives of the militias. Reduced U. S. presence gives them a freer hand, freer to ethnically cleanse Baghdad and drive Sunni Arabs into the western provinces or out of the country, freer to battle among themselves for control of the oil-rich south. Reducing U. S. presence does change the incentives but not in the direction of stabilizing the country nor in a way that’s favorable to American interests."