We hate you, now stay

Une cri de coeur from the New York Times stringers in Iraq?

In interviews four months ago, many Iraqis refused to say how long American troops should stay. Now, however, some say they want them here for a minimum of three years, and maybe even five years. Ms. Zubaidi said she thought five years would be the minimum, adding that the police and army needed to be remade to root out sectarianism.

“They will need five years,” she said. “The first year they need to prepare themselves properly to work with the Iraqi people. Then they need a year or two years to start from the ground building the security services and then. ...” She lowered her voice and looked around as if she was afraid someone might be listening, then continued: “They need one year to prepare a government for Iraq that is built not on a sectarian foundation. It must be a secular government.

“Religion has nothing to do with government,” she said. “Religion is in my heart.”

I wonder if the opinion of friends of New York Times Iraqi reporters for the New York Times is common in the prevailing view within an ethnically cleansed Baghdad, but I have enormous respect for the courage of the reporters and their subjects in this story.