"Unless the sole criteria is that anything causing grief for the occupying forces is in and of itself good. In which case, concern from the consequences of withdrawal is "liberal imperialism" or the like. The worse for the US, the better. Full stop. Never mind that the guerrillas are assassinating popular leaders and doing everything possible to make hell for The Iraqi People(TM)."
I don't think it's possible for us to conceive what is happening in Iraq. Imagine 60% unemployment. Can you? I can't. Imagine that there's no water, electricity, food. Imagine an occupying force that obviously doesn't give a damn about you. Imagine tribal ties and loyalties and the crap that evolves after years and years and years of occupation, tyranny, hunger, bombings, ...
I find it simply inconceivable. So to talk about "the guerrillas" -- as if this were some single organized force...is silly. There's a power vacuum and a struggle for power. There are men with guns, and tanks, and bombs, and ...there are women and children and people simply struggling to survive all this. "Popular leaders"? How the hell would you know? What is it exactly that you do know?... ignorant of the culture, language, and ruminating over the evening news...thousands of miles away.
Joanna