one of the arguments against a pullout of u.s. forces from iraq is that the troops are needed there to to prevent iraq from falling into civil war. that often leads to arguments over whether iraq is already in a civil war. i think it is, but plenty of people insist that the sectarian violence we've already seen doesn't quite make it to "civil war level" (whatever that may mean)
but putting aside the arguments over whether a civil war exists or not, the stay-to-prevent-sectarian-violence justification makes questions like these quite reasonable. if the u.s. won't intervene, then what are we doing there?
