Rather than leading to a spiral of violence. redeploying from Iraq will serve as the necessary catalyst for the Iraqis to assume responsibility for their country. with regional nations then interested in ensuring stability when the United States is outside that country. but remaining with strength in the region. The needed reconciliation will only come about when the Iraqi political leaders are forced to take the difficult political steps needed to cease the violence in their country. such as building coalitions among competing sects. ensuring minority rights. balancing power between provincial and central governments. and sharing oil revenues among all regions in Iraq. And regional nations. particularly Syrias and Irans. incentives change toward stability when the United States is no longer in the midst of the civil war. and these nations will have to bear the consequences of further strife. with refugee flows to their countries. and the possibility that these relatively allied nations could then be joined into a proxy battle to their detriment. as one is primarily Sunni and the other Shia. Only by a strategy of setting a date certain. a deliberate timetable for redeployment. are we able to create a catalyst for the political leaders in Iraq to acknowledge and accept that they must undertake the difficult political steps necessary to cease the sectarian violence. as they understand that they otherwise would bear the consequences of not assuming the responsibility for their country. Iraq is not the central front in terrorism.