The study warns that such an announcement would bolster the Sunni insurgency and increase the prospect of civil war in Iraq. The report by the Army War College ? which stressed that the document did not necessarily represent the views of the military or Defense Department ? also dismissed hopes that Iraq would soon be ready to assume major security responsibilities.
"From the moment a timetable is announced, all Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition will calculate that U.S. protection is a declining asset, and they correspondingly will have to make a decision about how to safeguard themselves and their property," the report said. "Some may choose to establish links to the insurgents, while others may seek the protection of a militia."
