Thanks, Rosary. Good thoughts. Our troops will come home with the mission is over, and not one day sooner.
The worst thing we can do is set a date--that only gives the enemy a tacit nod of approval and lets them start planning the real upheaval. Just think of the money and arms they could save between now and the "due date" if we gave them one!
Dividing Iraq into three "states" is a problem. We leave and the Shitte section is annexed by Iran, which is then in place to wipe out the centrally-located "Sunni-land." The Kurds in the north could become their own state, but as an independent diplomatic state they would be entitled to their own militia and possibly nuclear weapons as defensive weaponry against their hostile neighbots. Turkey would be part of the EU and their border with the Kurds is not a positive environment.
The new leaders (Iranian?) of Iraq would then sit on the second greatest oil reserve in the world. Wonder if we could get our solar panels and windmills up and running full-throttle by then?