The U.S. must renounce any U.S. interest in constructing permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

The crude oil market, unlike every other commodity in America, is virtually unregulated.

Nor should the U.S. military be forced to remain in Iraq essentially as an army for one side of a civil war.

About 75 percent of the crude oil marketed here is sold off the books, and they are doing trades that would be illegal if it was a regulated market, and of course they do not want to regulate it.

The U.S. cannot force Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds to make peace or to act for the common good. They have been in conflict for 1,400 years.

There is no free market in oil.

The U.S. cannot impose freedom, security, and unity in Iraq by force.