In a guest column, Pearson, director of Wayne State's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, wrote about America's role in Iraq. "No matter how good our intentions, Iraqis on all sides of the conflict as well as groups throughout the region see the American intervention as a proto-colonial war - a war of vengeance against Saddam and Ba'athists, a war for control of oil, a war to surround Iran, a war to remake the Middle East," he wrote. The time is right for a U.S. withdrawal. America's forces need to be pulled back to avoid provocation and allow responsible participation in multilateral regional security arrangements.