The following clip taken from the movie Gandhi is one of my favorites and it’s one I think of often. The United States imperial power controls Iraq & Afghanistan and we view our presence there as essential to the peaceful operation of those two states when in fact we are a foreign power and though the puppet regimes we have in place seem to want us to stay there are no doubt citizens in both countries who wish we’d leave. Gandhi and India’s witness to history is powerful. Without firing a shot they removed the British from India. It took a lot of work and many Indians lost their lives at the hands of the British including the famous massacre at Amritsar but eventually the British left and through it all India and Britain maintain a cordial relationship. Throughout it all Gandhi chose not to demonize the British but to redeem them. That is the best possible consequence and one that is worthy of emulation everywhere.