"If we leave, all the attacks would stop because we’d be gone."

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15209806.htm

Local officials had assured Graves, the top U.S. commander in the area, that Hit was “going through a period of peace and quiet.”

But just as Graves reached the edge of town, the road in front of his Humvee exploded in a cloud of dust and debris. An insurgent hiding in a nearby palm grove had detonated two buried artillery rounds, narrowly missing him.
...
Residents are quick to argue that the American presence incites those attacks, and they blame the U.S. military rather than insurgents for turning their town into a combat zone. The Americans should pull out, they say, and let them solve their own problems.

Oh, but that would be cutting and running. We can't have that.

And you read it right. When the troops weren't in the area: peace and quite. The troops roll in: attacks on the troops. To Rumsfeld, I guess that means there are still terrorists in the area and we have to do house to house raids to confiscate all the easily replaced weapons.The Iraqi people, who we 'liberated' and are free to determine the course of their own country want us out. What are we waiting for?

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?

Hundreds of thousands of Shiites chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" marched through the streets of Baghdad's biggest Shiite district Friday in a show of support for Hezbollah militants battling Israeli troops in Lebanon.

But the Iraqis are free now and they have nothing to fear, right Specialist Wilkins?

http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=894100

BAGHDAD, Aug 6 (KUNA) -- Iraqi police said on Sunday it found 13 dead bodies in different parts of Baghdad during the past 24 hours.

Speaking to KUNA, a police source said the unidentified bodies included the corpse of a female.

In addition, four truck drivers were killed by terrorists in Al-Eshaqi 100 kilometers to the north of Baghdad.

Also, the person in-charge of the US and Iraqi armies supplies in Al-Huwaijah was killed, said as military source.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4098384.html

Fighting erupted early Monday in a Shiite militia stronghold of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber blew himself up among mourners at a funeral in Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing 10 people and injuring 22.

And how do you like that headline?

Our troops redeployment is long overdue. We'll never be able to entirely stop attacks on our troops. We'll never be able, as a military force, to stop the sectarian killings and kidnappings. There's nothing more our armed forces can do in Iraq (besides build permanent bases, eh?)

We can still help the Iraqis in strategic areas, like the oil fields, but we'd have to do it with Iraq's interests put first. Unfortunately, the interests of the Iraqi people are not the primary concern of our government and surely not the primary motivation for the prolonged occupation.