and again John Burns!

Who would have thought that the New York Times would make the case for staying the course in Iraq? But here's a thoughtful and disturbing article by John Burns in Baghdad and other NYT reporters elsewhere, in which US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and General Petraeus lay out the possible consequences of a US withdrawal. Crocker:

“In the States, it’s like we’re in the last half of the third reel of a three-reel movie, and all we have to do is decide we’re done here, and the credits come up, and the lights come on, and we leave the theater and go on to something else,” he said. “Whereas [in Iraq], you’re just getting into the first reel of five reels,” he added, “and as ugly as the first reel has been, the other four and a half are going to be way, way worse.”

Read it at the Times website (registration required; the effort is worthwhile).