Withdrawal or rout?

So how do you categorise what we have done in Iraq? It appears that the Americans are not pleased with what they see as a retreat if not an acceptance of defeat. But what was our objective? As I understood it, it was to stabilise the situation, and then hand over to the Iraqis themselves - and that is exactly what we have done. The American problem is that they do not approve of the people to whom we have handed over. I'm afraid we're back to the old business of the US definition of democracy not being the will of the people, but being what suits the US. I think we have done, and are doing exactly the right thing. Given that there's no cohesive central government, if the southern Iraqis want to have close links with Iran, that's their business and nobody else's.