Analysis: Experts divided on Iraq solution

Experts analyzing how the United States can disentangle itself from the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq disagree over many aspects of strategy, but they are united in one view -- the complexity and scale of the problem defies simple solutions.

How can the United States leave without allowing the current Sunni-Shiite bloodletting to escalate into a Bosnia-style civil war or creating an even more fertile breeding ground for militant jihadists? And what can it do to stop Iran -- Iraq's Shiite neighbor and the most potent regional military power -- from filling the vacuum when American troops leave? With the current debate on Iraq framed between the intention of the Bush administration to "stay the course" and the demand by many Democratic lawmakers to withdraw, which President Bush has decried as "cut and run," is there any middle ground?

Many Iraq experts outside the government agree that the nation needs a more nuanced exit strategy, but they cannot agree on how to go about it.

"We're choosing between bad and worse," said Shibley Telhami, an expert on the Middle East at the University of Maryland.

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