A really great reason not to abandon Iraq.

See if you can spot a trend here:

• The Korean Civil War of 1950 to 1953 cost the United States roughly 54,000 deaths before the military situation was stabilized, but the United States to this day maintains forces in South Korea.


• The second phase of the Vietnamese Civil War during the years 195 to 1975 cost the United States roughly 58,000 deaths. The war ended when the United States removed its troops and cut of support to South Vietnam, leading to that country being conquered by North Vietnam.


• The 2003 invasion of Iraq has cost the United States roughly 3000 deaths as of this writing. A prominent anti-war faction is already calling for United States troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, and that faction considers that the money spent on stabilizing Iraq since 2003 might have been better spent on Americans schools and health care.

We've gone from a pledge of support for South Korea that's still going strong after nearly 60 years, to a pledge of support for South Vietnam that finally fell to pieces after more than a decade of holding things together, to a pledge of support for a democratic Iraq that started falling apart from basically the moment people started getting hurt.

As you can see, the real question isn't whether United States troops should be withdrawn from Iraq, but how much worse the next conflict is likely to be if the United States doesn't stay the course now in Iraq.