One of the more interesting Iraq strategy proposals I've read

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=121806A

To summarize: Go with the 80%, screw the Sunnis.

It is rather ironic, when you think about it. The U.S. is stuck in a COIN effort, mainly against Sunnis.

Counter-insurgency being what it is, the U.S. is of course attempting to win over the Sunnis, and U.S. efforts are probably preventing an all-out civil war, complete with ethnic cleansing that would leave the heavily outnumbered Sunnis in a distinct pickle.

Thus, the U.S. is insulating the Sunnis (again, the primary source of current American woes in Iraq) from the worst consequences of their own failure to maintain control over the country after decades of repressive rule over the others; namely, extermination, or something close to it.

Wealth and power

According to a report from the World Institute for Development Economics Research (Helsinki), the wealthiest 2 percent of adults own more than half of the world's household wealth, and the richest 1 percent of adults owned 40 percent of global assets. In case you wonder where you fall, as of 2000 the richest 10 percent of adults had assets of $61,000 or more, and the top 1 percent had at least $500,000.

I have nothing against getting rich. I do wonder about the political consequences. Wealth is power, and power tends to institutionalize and advance its own interests. And while economics is not necessarily a zero-sum game, politics usually is.

Our allies?

There are some things you have to see to believe. The following sequence comes from American Digest, who grabbed stills from a video:

Draw your own conlusions.