Readers of this space know I often refer the Catch-22 in Iraqi politics: that any leader that the United States supports in Iraq won't have any popular support at all, and vice versa. Here is how Chas Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and frequent critic of U.S. Middle East policy puts it, in an essay:

The more the current Iraqi regime is seen to depend on our military power, the less legitimacy and authority it enjoys.