[meenie]

I think you are right on the probability that troops will be there for years but the country should be a stand alone nation capable of defending itself and governing itself. What is wrong with the process when they cannot rely on their own protection and governance?

Something is very wrong when an occupying power is required to baby sit a government for years. It is also impossible from an economic and political standpoint to occupy every source of terrorism all over the world. We do not have the resources and population to make this a permanent solution to terrorism. Thought should be given to this reality and a solution found. We do not have to appease terrorism but we have to find more of a solution than we now see.

[sarasmom]

"Something is very wrong when an occupying power is required to baby sit a government for years."

How old are you?
How much history have you read, if not lived?
Care to take a guess on how long we stuck around in Japan, Germany and South Korea? We are still hanging around the former Albania, arent we?

It takes as long as it takes.That's about the only "exit plan" option available to an occupying power.
So far, we have occupied Iraq for less than a year.Come back to me in three years, and a clearer picture may have emerged.