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The problem with these threads is that to often what we in haste for whatever reason(s) put in print a quick response, that really requires sometimes dozens of paragraphs to outline in detail each point we want to make relative to the over all picture.
We, at least I, take it for granted, that those that often interact at FR on issues, tend to remember the over all position of those I interact with.
I see nothing out of whack with anything said amongst this thread group. We are all appreciative to a high degree why the fat boy must be taken out along with his key administrative and militaristic side kicks.
Likewise we all appreciate why it is imperative for Hakim and his Badr Brigade to also be disbanded.

I do think we should be careful as how we throw around the phrase often used by the POTUS, stay the course.
It obviously means different things to different people here and outside FR.
And it would be unfair not to emphasize the phrase has had to accommodate things that came to past, that require adjusted thinking to some degree.
Current Iraqi politics due to the process allowed to develop in how the government was to be formed and guided by a constitution, have thrown all types of barriers in the way of obtaining the original solution.
And obviously we can write scores of sentences to delineate why the original plan for a united secular government is now so much the harder to achieve, due to the likes of Sadr, Hakim, their parliamentary system, their voting rules, etc..
So many often convoluted and twisted scenarios have surfaced due to their very cultural/religious/tribal means of living.
It is clear they cannot change their basic believe systems in such a short period of time. Most probably never will.

However I believe we all would state along the same lines that stay the course means in essence, a total disbandment of all Iraqi militias, the continued training and refinement of the Iraqi military (airforce,army,navy,special commandos), as well as a by province police force that meets the needs of all Iraqi within those provinces under a given governor.
And obviously the continued interacting between the Iraqi forces and Coalition forces to bring down the many groups participating in the ongoing insurgency. Now I leave so much untouched don't I?
But that does not mean I differ in the over all game plan we would all like to see happen in due course.
What royally fizzes off so many here, often people that have loved ones serving in Iraq as I write, is what you all in slightly different writing styles make note of.

Not a soul at FR, wants to hear about even one more American fighting man/women being WIA or KIA.
Let us earnestly hope the proposed doubling of the defense budget for 2007 in effect indicates the US has plans on sending in whatever number/size/mix of division of Army and Marines to put a terrible hurting on all those in Iraq that appose this IG and the idea of a secular unity government, on a time frame that does not exceed this POTUS watch.

It is high time that the now immortalized words Marine General Mattis used some three years back..."we will wear silk gloves, and no better friend or worse enemy shall come into play, on a grand scale.
If the above does not start happening soon, then all jmc1969 and I have said is we are loosing our spirit to want to support the methodologies being used in Iraq to turn it around. The IG HAS NO EXCUSE AT THIS POINT. Jaafari and his associates where dumped. Maliki was brought on board to reverse the then obvious trends being shown by the Shia to play their own game.
I see next to nothing of importance being done by Maliki in regards to disbanding all the militias. If this is a frigen little game they play. Then call it for what it is, and take appropriate measures and FULLY DISCLOSED CONSEQUENCES they will have to endure. If they are playing typical A Rab games and theatactrics with us, then that has to stop. Yes it is their country, but our troops are there for a specific purpose. And clearly the IG is not honoring it's side of the bargain. Assuming there actually has been a solid established agreement between the US/Coalition representative governments and the IG as to just what their goal is to be/desired.
Time for Maliki to get the hell off his ass and show he can be brutal with these militias.
This crap Maliki says in effect ...we will not tolerate them, then do nothing of significance, or demand US troops withdraw from the capital's neighborhoods (checkpoints) because it is causing TRAFFIC JAMS is BULL SHIT.