Wrong Way in Iraq

Editor,
The dire scenarios outlined in your editorial "Wrong Way in Iraq" do not at all justify continuing an American military presence there. Shia in the south will negotiate more realistically if, once American troops are gone, they are faced with prospect of having to fight their Sunni opposition themselves. Regional powers with a stake in the outcome -- and presumably a stake in avoiding being drawn into a war -- will help. Ham-fisted American "negotiators", who do their talking with waterboards and fighter jets, need to understand that there are civilized people in this world who are fully capable of managing their own conflicts and their own affairs.