An insightful and exhaustive analysis of US presence in, and withdrawal from, Iraq. Here’s a sample:

Democracy cannot be installed by outside powers, at gunpoint. Genuine democracy can come about only through the struggle of people for control over their own lives and circumstances, through movements that are themselves democratic in nature. When confronted with such movements, such as the 1991 Iraqi uprising, the U.S. government has consistently preferred to see them crushed than to see them succeed.