"We will be out of Iraq before the congressional election of 2006. We'll either be completely out or well on our way out with a specified end date.Here's why.The toll of the war in both lives and treasure are going well beyond what we were promised. The elections in Iraq already are proving themselves to have been merely a vote of the majority for the majority with no room for any meaningful minority voice in the emerging government." (I will make my own prediction of the Iraq situation. (I had made my predictions for Iraq mere days after the occupation began in the Boston Globe). I think that there will be not a single US soldier in Iraq by the first year in the next US administration, and I think that Iraq by then will be a growing mess left by the Bush's doctrine. I worry about Kurdish-Arab ties in that period, and wish that Kurdish leaders realize that US troops will eventually leave, and they will have to deal with their Arab neighbors, and that an alliance with US occupation and/or Israel will come back to haunt them, this is not to exonerate Arab responsibility in the oppression of the Kurds of course. I predict that as we get closer to the date of US withdrawal, more and more factions will break with the Americans, and elements within the Shi`ite political movement will defect to the ranks of anti-occupation forces, not on the side of Zarqawi of course. I predict that Muqtada As-Sadr's role will grow, and the Iranian role will grow too. Just remember how Amal adjusted to the politics of South Lebanon: in 1982, that sectarian and right-wing organization cooperated with the Israeli occupation, but then followed public opinion and started acting against the occupation.)