An important note from Steve Gilliard

The reality is that the US Army will be lucky to leave Iraq in one piece. The Iranian government are the prime backers of the Iraqi government. It is filled with Iranian spies from top to bottom. We cannot so much as scout the border without the Iranians know this.

These guys like fights but never imagine losing. Even people on the left cannot imagine an American Army retreating in defeat, leaving their weapons and bases behind as they scramble to get out of the country. But it can happen, and without a Iranian soldier crossing the frontier.

Steve is talking specifically about the consequences of an American strike on Iran, but let's face reality: Eventually, some Shia village is going to go through it's own version of Haditha (which is a Sunni town), and suddenly The Rape of Lucretia is going to have a great deal of current-events relevance. Or some other godawful thing will happen, and the Shia will decide that the US occupation has lasted just long enough, thank you.

The US has two choices: Leave now, of their own volition, or later, not.

It should of course be said that if the US Army is in fact forced in to a retreat, they'll kill way, way more Iraqis on their way out of the country. I can't remember if it made it in to the movie or not, but remember that the famous "Blackhawk Down" incident killed 18 US soldiers and at least 500 (and as much as 1000) Somalis.