Rumsfeld to Iraq: You're on your own

CNN:

If Iraq were to plunge into all-out civil war the U.S. military would depend on Iraq's own security forces to deal with it "to the extent they are able to," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.

Testifying with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in support of the administration's request for $91 billion mainly to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rumsfeld was pressed to explain the U.S. military's plan to respond in the event that Iraq's sectarian violence grows into a full-fledged civil war.

"The plan is to prevent a civil war, and to the extent one were to occur, to have the -- from a security standpoint -- have the Iraqi security forces deal with it, to the extent they are able to," Rumsfeld said.

I'm actually sympathetic to this position, as getting our troops involved will send the message that we are taking sides, a message that would further drive the country from unity and worsen the situation as a whole.

That said, it's important to remember that the number of Iraqi battalions that can battle without U.S. help stands at zero. Which would mean we are abandoning a people we meant to liberate as we leave the country unable to battle on it's own. Not exactly a public relations coup in a region we are trying to win over.