[DanaC]

Counter insurgency campaigns can be won, and there are dozens of historical manuals from French, British, and even American CI wars fought. Up til now, we've broken every rule of the CI handbook with our ham fisted, short sighted tactics. We'd have to test new ground to regain lost trust, but I really do believe that if the american people stood up and said "fuck all, let's do this," we would see a thriving Iraq in about 9 years (the almost universal timespan CI campaign lasts).

More useful might be the gradual replacement of US Troops with a combined UN and NATO force.