ubernoir wrote:
when the troops start to draw down will the scale of the violence resume?

Its quite possible, but I think more time is needed to tell.

America leaves less hung-ho, burnt but not beaten, with pride and wiser, less prone to semi-imperialistic adventures, still ready to hear the call, tempered, a better policeman??

Sounds like the plot from a Disney film. I wouldn't get too ambitious about people learning political lessons. It does seem to happen here. For some reason the anti-gay movement, for example, has lost truck loads of political power recently. It seems to happen quietly without fan fare. You simply wake up and certain things aren't polling as well, and its not clear why other than a large number of people at some point over the course of a few years sat down one evening and thought about it. It seems like it has to be out of the headlines for a little while for it to happen.

RE: The Iraq war | Why they should stay | Economist.com