Independent sees flickers of hope in Iraq

The Leader in todays paper says: Increasingly, though, it is not the foreign troops who are bearing the brunt of the violence, but Iraqi civilians. A war against foreign occupation has turned into a sectarian conflict, if not – yet – outright civil war.

This means that even an early withdrawal of foreign troops will not, of itself, bring peace. And with no single Iraqi grouping strong enough to prevail alone, the warring factions will one day have to negotiate a settlement. If Iraq is to remain a unitary state – as a majority of Iraqis appear to want – the sooner this can happen, the better.