Chaos in Iraq

Of course the Iraqi government would love for U.S. soldiers to continue to die to keep them in power. And, of course the incompetent and corrupt government of Maliki would collapse if we weren't there to prop them up:

Iraq's foreign minister on Monday said the country may fracture into separate parts and its government could collapse if the United States begins withdrawing troops too quickly -- a warning delivered as debate over war policy intensifies in the White House and Congress.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a morning press conference that Iraqi officials "understand the huge pressure" building in the United States for a withdrawal of troops.

But now the government in Baghdad has another problem to worry about--an invasion by Turkey. The U.S. might not have the leverage to prevent such an eventuality:

Turkey has massed 140,000 soldiers on its border with northern Iraq, Iraq's foreign minister said Monday, calling the neighboring country's fears of Kurdish rebels based there "legitimate" but better resolved through negotiation.

[...]Zebari's comments came amid calls by Turkey's military for the government to give it the green light to carry out military operations in northern Iraqi against the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

One reason why Americans want us out is the cost in lives and in dollars:

The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.

All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults, roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion.

Meanwhile Bush hunkers down. Because he has his own war--against America:

George W. Bush is not ­contemplating a change of strategy in Iraq, in spite of intensifying bipartisan pressure on the president to start reducing US troop numbers in the country, the White House said on Monday.

The defiant message came amid signs of rapidly eroding support for the war within Mr Bush’s Republican party and a growing sense of inevitability in Washington that the US will soon be forced to seek an exit from Iraq.

Tony Snow, White House press secretary, said there was “no debate right now” within the administration about taking immediate steps to withdraw troops from the battlefield.