I like the way you put that, but is not the opposite true as well. Will medieval islam just toss in the towel...or will it undertake to subvert the newly democratic Iraq just as it does the rest of the world?
They will indeed. The vast majority of Iraqis have no desire to wind up with a theocratic goverment like Iran. So long as Iraq remains a republic, it won't. As in the rest of the world, the extremists are a small, small percentage of the population. Sunnis may be willing to sit back and let the wack jobs do their dirty work for them, as far as fighting the foriegn invaders, but they have no intention of letting them actually run the government.
There is a certain nationalistic / Arab pride that many Sunnis feel when they see us attacked. That's why a blind eye is turned towards them. Once we're out of the picture, the dynamic changes entirely. If we were conqured by the Soviets, and you saw gang members fighting them in the streets, you'd feel the same way. Still, once the Soviets pulled out, you wouldn't vote in a Crip or Blood as mayor. Same principal involved here, as well.