What reasons are those? Every time I turn around, it seems, someone is yelling, "Negotiate with Iran and Syria!" But as yet no one can tell me how we are going to get them to stop meddling in Iraq. It's either carrots or sticks. We have tried carrots. If we pull out troops what sticks do we have?
Second: whether they admit it in public or not, both Iran and Syria know for a fact that we CAN nuke them and we CAN turn them to slag without needing nukes. Diplomacy isn't just for appeasement any more (or shouldn't be).
Third: announce very clearly that Palestine and the WOT are not linked in US eyes. That we will deal with all terrorists forcefully and regardless of their stated intent. That Israel / palestine / Lebanon are issues that will not be manipulated to justify any overlap. I believe that the power elites in the area, as well as Baker, know this and use 'the Palestinian issue' as a means to their own ends. The morons on the street might be another matter because I hear 'palestine' from otherwise rational immigrants daily.
Finally, it is absolutely imperative that Iraq enjoys some level of success that does not involve voting for terrorism rather than having it imposed from the top.
Regardless of how 'bad' some of us might believe Iraq to be today (& I think it's improved) someone IS fighting against the islamists, on or near their own soil, and entirely unlike what went before 9/11. They can posture and plot, and they can make hits outside the ME; but they are not free today to do it without losses. Arafat is dead and his heirs are fighting each other. Iran just might be showing signs of a coup or some pull back from Nutjob's ranting. Syria has shown its hand in Lebanon, for better or for worse?
Further afield, Castro is dead or in transit, Chavez knows his big ticket AKs and MIGs would be good for two or three hours. This is not the time to either go ballistic (literally) or to back off and out - and that might be precisely why the Dems are on a rant to do one or the other.
Footnote: partition of Iraq is not an option. The Kurds have been screwed once already and without federation they'd be Turkish toast very shortly.