From 2010 to 2013, Rayburn was a frequent critic of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Maliki and of the Obama administration's decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq in December, 2011.

In January, 2012 Rayburn wrote in an article published by the Hoover Institution that the U.S. withdrawal would result in a security vacuum in Iraq and a potential return to civil war.

[1] In 2012, Rayburn wrote that Nuri Maliki and his Da'wa Party allies were becoming a new authoritarian regime that was alienating Iraq's Sunnis and youthful protesters.

[6] Chapter 5 of his book is frequently cited to support the assertion that the Faith Campaign of Saddam Hussein promoted Salafi ideology, and thus created a base for the rise in 2003 of the Islamic State of Iraq and the related insurgency.

[7] Chapter 6 of his book discusses the Kurdish nationalist movement and its purpose "to annex the strategic city of Kirkuk" and to reverse the demographic changes there which had been caused by the actions of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

[8][9] From January 2017 to July 2018, he served as Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon on the U.S. National Security Council staff at the White House.