1. Presidential Election
   1. Clayton
      1. anti-withdrawal
   2. Dannemeyer
      1. pro-withdrawal
2. Reduction / Withdrawal
   1. Doves wanted rapid draw down
   2. Hawks wanted
      1. No reduction
      2. Minimum reduction
   3. Iraqi's wanted
      1. The stability their presence provided
      2. Did not want Americans infringing on their sovereignty
   4. Dannemeyer's resolution
      1. training units
      2. Advisors
      3. Logistics support
   5. Refocused ethnic groups
      1. Away from political framework
      2. Toward preparing for power vacuum
3. Grand Bargain
   1. Power Share
      1. Sunni's were in power prior to Gulf War 1
      2. Sunni's were smallest ethnic group
      3. Kurd's controlled most of the oil reserves
      4. Kurd's were willing to try as they feared both Iran and Turkey
      5. Shi'a's obtained power with the arrival of America
      6. Had Maliki - was able to draw together the factions of Iraq
      7. Significant local autonomy was assigned
   2. Oil Share
      1. Guaranteed share of the country's oil revenues
      2. Mahdi Army was successfully suppressed in Basra by Iraqi Army
4. Financial Crisis
   1. Pressure from war
   2. Housing bubble burst
   3. Inflation
      1. Rising energy prices
      2. Growth of federal budget deficit
      3. Retirement of baby boomers
      4. Government drawing on social security trust fund
   4. Stagflation
5. 2010 Mid term Elections
   1. Both sides attacked president on issue
   2. Ad by private interest group
   3. Dannemeyer narrowly won
6. Ali al-Sistani
   1. Focused on being religions leader as power was lost
   2. Advisors were assassinated in 2007
   3. assassination attempt was foiled in early 2007
   4. He was killed in 2013
      1. assassination frayed relations between ethnic groups
      2. Qud elements were thought to conduct assassination
      3. Sectarian violence rose again
7. Intra-Shi'a conflict
   1. Badr organisation destroyed
   2. Muhsin Abdul Aziz al-Hakim died
   3. With this Sadr had opportunity to control
8. Regional peace conference
   1. Dannemeyer proposes strategy
   2. Arab states & Iran refused to attend if Israel attended
   3. Turkish refused attendance to avoid legitimising Kurd autonomy
   4. Led to US attempt at individual bilateral diplomatic initiatives
      1. Frontline Arab states
         1. Egypt
         2. Jordan
         3. Saudi Arabia
      2. Turkey
      3. Persian Axis
         1. Iran
         2. Syria