The American Enterprise Institute has recently posted part four of Iraq: The Way Ahead by Frederick Kagan. From the Executive Summary:
The United States now has the opportunity to achieve its fundamental objectives in Iraq through the establishment of a peaceful, stable, secular, democratic state and a reliable ally in the struggle against both Sunni and Shiite terrorism. Such an accomplishment would allow the United States to begin to reorient its position in the Middle East from one that relies on antidemocratic states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia to one based on a strong democratic partner whose citizens have explicitly rejected al Qaeda and terrorism in general. The growth of anti-Iranian sentiment in both Sunni and Shiite Arab communities in Iraq holds out the possibility that Iraq can become a bulwark against Iranian aims in the region, and that Iraq can, with American support, return to its role of balancing Iranian power without being the regional threat it had become under Saddam Hussein. Coalition operations in 2007 have already dealt a devastating blow to al Qaeda, and that success--and the reaction of Iraqis to it--has opened the door to achieving positive and important objectives in Iraq and throughout the region...
The way ahead is clear. We must help the Iraqis defeat Sunni and Shia extremists, terrorists, and insurgents. This task is well underway. We must mediate disputes between Iraqi communities at the local, provincial, and national levels, in conjunction with the UN presence in Iraq and with Iraqi mechanisms to resolve disputes. We must support those elements of Iraqi society and government whose interests most closely align with ours, particularly the Iraqi Army and grassroots movements in both Sunni and Shiite communities. We must commit to the defense of Iraq against the interference or attack of its neighbors to encourage the rise of Iraqi nationalism and of anti-Iranian sentiment already growing in Iraq. We must help guide Iraq through the forthcoming elections, which will be a formative period of the nascent Iraqi state. If current trends continue and if the United States plays its proper role, the elections of 2008 and 2009 can capture and capitalize on social, political, and economic attitudes that may drive Iraq toward a close relationship with the U.S. based on common interests, threats, and objectives.
More of the Executive Summary...
... or read the entire report.