American troops are leaving Iraq
Iraq celebrated the withdrawal of American troops from its cities with parades, fireworks and a national holiday on Tuesday as the prime minister trumpeted the country's sovereignty from American occupation to a wary public.
Even with a deadly car bombing and other mayhem marring the day — the deadline for the American troop pullback under an agreement that took effect Jan. 1 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki seized on the occasion to position himself as a proud leader of a country independent at last, looking ahead to the next milestone of parliamentary elections in January.
He made no mention of American troops in a nationally televised speech, even though nearly 130,000 remain in the country; most had already pulled back from Iraq's cities before Tuesday's deadline.
The excitement, however, has rung hollow for many Iraqis, who fear that their country's security forces are not ready to stand alone and who see the government's claims of independence as overblown.
From Basra in the south to Mosul in the north, Iraqis expressed skepticism about the proclamation of "independence."
"They will not withdraw to their homes; they will stay here and there so that they can return in emergencies," said Samir Alwan, 28, the owner of a mini-market in Basra. "So it is not sovereignty, according to my point of view, and I think that the Iraqi Army is only able to secure the south of the country and unable to secure Baghdad and Mosul."
In a national address, Mr. Maliki focused his praise on Iraqi troops and security forces for their role in fighting the insurgency. "The national united government succeeded in putting down the sectarian war that was threatening the unity and the sovereignty of Iraq," he said, as if the United States had played no role.
President Obama, who ran for office on a pledge to end the war, marked the occasion with minimal fanfare, declaring it "an important milestone" even as he warned of "difficult days ahead."
"The Iraqi people are rightly treating this day as cause for celebration," he said.
The withdrawal did not command its own presidential appearance — Mr. Obama's brief remarks were delivered at a ceremony honoring entrepreneurs — a contrast with his predecessor, who rarely missed an opportunity to celebrate milestones in Iraq.
Underscoring the insecurity, a suicide bombing in a market in a Kurdish neighborhood of the volatile northern city of Kirkuk killed 33 people, according to the police there. In Baghdad, the American military reported that four United States soldiers were killed in an attack on Monday, evidence of the vulnerability of the troops as they withdraw.
Military experts anticipate more violence in the days ahead.
Mr. Maliki's effort to capitalize on Iraq's latent anti-Americanism and to extol the abilities of his troops is a risky strategy. If it turns out that Iraqi troops cannot control the violence, Mr. Maliki will be vulnerable to criticism from rivals — not only if he has to ask the Americans to return but also if he fails to enforce security without them.
Some American commanders have said they were taken aback by Mr. Maliki's insistence on taking credit for all the security successes in Iraq. However, they also see the importance of having him and Iraqi troops appear strong, especially in the face of insurgent factions intent on destabilizing the government.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander of American troops in Iraq, brushed aside the dismissive tone of public remarks by the country's leaders about the Americans, saying that Mr. Maliki personally thanked him Monday night and again Tuesday for the sacrifices the American troops had made.
"I do not get these negative comments from the political leaders that are in the government," he said at a news conference at the American military headquarters at Camp Victory. "In my mind, I frankly don't worry about those comments because I understand that we are working this together."
He also played down concerns about security in Iraq's cities after the withdrawal of most American combat forces, noting that nearly 130,000 troops remained in Iraq. He said the American and Iraqi militaries continued to cooperate on security issues inside and outside the cities.
In most places the transition to the Iraqi forces has gone relatively smoothly, but there have been bumps, reminders of the underlying tensions between the two militaries and the resentment that American soldiers feel as the Iraqis appear eager to push them out the door even though they still want them to be on call.
In Diyala Province, where the Americans closed 11 of 18 bases or outposts before Tuesday's deadline, the transfers did not go entirely smoothly. An official in Mr. Maliki's office showed up early at a camp near Baquba and complained that the Americans had not left behind generators and air-conditioners for the Iraqis — something the American commander in the region said had never been part of the agreement. The dispute on Sunday delayed the formal transfer.
"You can't treat your partners that way," the commander, Col. Burt K. Thompson of the First Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, said in Baquba.
For Iraqis, claiming sovereignty is something of a national pastime, with various politicians celebrating different markers: 2004, when the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority handed power to the interim Iraqi government; 2006, when Iraq seated its first constitutionally elected Parliament; and Jan. 1, when the security agreement took effect.
Mr. Maliki seems to be making a conscious effort to cement his image as a strong ruler by using many of the same tools of power as the predecessor he hated so much, Saddam Hussein. He has used the state television network and newspaper to spread nationalist messages, and has used parades and festivals to encourage public pride.
Over the past several days the state television network, Al Iraqiya, not only ran a "Countdown to Sovereignty" clock but also broadcast promotional spots glorifying Iraqi history, culture and people. Its images of the marshes of southern Iraq, the markets of Baghdad, men performing traditional dances and children playing in the mountain meadows of Kurdistan — much of it filmed before the 2003 invasion — presented an image of Iraq completely unfamiliar to most Iraqis, who now live in neighborhoods cordoned off by blast walls and are forced to go through multiple checkpoints every day.
"This is all for the media," said Amina al-Esadi, a female searcher at the compound of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a religious Shiite political party.
"Some people are afraid because the Americans have left. Some think it will be better because then the enemies of the Americans will leave Iraq" and the country will be safer, she said.
The celebration continues...
There was a pop concert and celebrations in the Baghdad zoo park, fireworks in the night sky, and jubilation in the streets.
Security forces were everywhere, all leave cancelled, for fear that the bombers might strike again.
But even the checkpoints were garlanded with flowers and flags, and many had music blaring.
They were marking the arrival of the last day of June, the deadline for US forces to be out of Iraqi towns and cities.
It's been named Sovereignty Day, and declared a public holiday. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said it is a huge victory for Iraq.
But the fact is that for most people in Baghdad and elsewhere, 1 July will look very similar to 30 June or 29 June.
'A few miles away'
American troops have rarely been seen on the streets in many areas in recent months.
Most of the tasks involving contact with the public have been taken over by Iraqi security forces.
But the withdrawal process did see the US troops either dismantling some 86 bases in the capital or handing them to Iraqi forces.
At one such base, Joint Security Station Comanche on the edge of Sadr City, American soldiers were toiling last week in the baking heat to meet the deadline.
People have tasted democracy, they have worked on democracy... Nobody can enforce dictatorship again on this country
Haidar al-Obadi
Shia MP
Huge concrete blast-walls were taken to pieces and trucked away in the dust to another base outside the city.
The US soldiers from the 1st Cavalry's Ironhorse Brigade were packing their kitbags and backpacks, stashing them in MRAP armoured vehicles, and being driven away.
"Since we came here in February, our 2,300 men haven't suffered a single fatality," said the position commander, Capt Chris Clyde.
"We're moving to another base a few miles away outside the city, and will continue working with our Iraqi partners from there."
JSS Comanche is already a thing of the past.
It is no longer a military position. It has been totally dismantled. The building used as its command centre was handed back to its original owners, the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry.
'Sacrifices'
On Monday, there was a symbolic ceremony at the old Iraqi Ministry of Defence building in the centre of Baghdad, the last US-held position to be handed over to the Iraqi authorities.
At another big ceremony and parade on Tuesday, Mr Maliki paid tribute to the "increasing credibility" of the Iraqi security forces.
He said the US withdrawal from the cities vindicated the position taken by Iraqi negotiators in the tough talks with the US that led to the agreement under which American troops should be entirely out of Iraq by the end of 2011, and that the withdrawal timeline would be adhered to.
As far as the towns and cities are concerned, while US forces remain on call outside city limits, their role in urban areas now changes to one of training and advising.
"This is a huge day both for the American and Coalition forces and for the Iraqis," said the chief spokesman for the US-led Multinational Forces, Brig Gen Steve Lanza.
"This is the culmination of much hard work and sacrifice over the years, as Iraqi security forces now have primacy and control in this country."
Election test
Much now depends on whether Iraqi forces can prevent the upsurge of violence which heralded the approach of the US withdrawals from triggering another spiral of sectarian violence - the clear aim of a series of deadly bomb attacks directed almost exclusively against Shia neighbourhoods and markets.
It was just such attacks which provoked Shia militias to take brutal revenge against Sunnis in 2006 and 2007, taking the country to the brink of civil war and disintegration.
US soldier in Baquba
More than 130,000 US soldiers remain in Iraq, with full withdrawal due in 2011
"Iraqi society, two years and more ago, looked into that abyss and rejected it, and that is the trend now," said British ambassador in Baghdad Christopher Prentice, looking ahead to key general elections scheduled for January.
"The concentration and effort across Iraq now is on a very vigorous political campaign. Six months from a landmark election, this is almost unique in the region, a country that is focusing on coalition building, on real politics, and the question is which politicians can win the trust of the electorate to deliver better services and build on the improving security in the way that meets the national needs."
The period leading up to the elections will be a real test for the Iraqi forces.
They still have 131,000 US troops standing by to help if they run into trouble.
But if they do have to call them back in, it will be seen as a reverse for the Iraqi government, and for President Barack Obama's hopes of getting all of his forces out of Iraq by the end of 2011 without leaving chaos in their wake.
Changed society
Last January's provincial elections set an impressive model of democracy in action, with powerful parties in some cases losing out, but accepting the results with good grace.
Will they do so in future elections, when the Americans are no longer around to stiffen the resolve of security forces? Is democracy now sufficiently rooted that it will survive the US withdrawal?
Haidar al-Obadi, a Shia Member of Parliament and close adviser to the prime minister, believes it is.
"There is no going back to a dictatorship or a one-party system in the country now," he said.
"People have tasted democracy, they have worked on democracy, it is an operation not only at the centre, but also in other areas, in the governorates and in the regions. Nobody can enforce dictatorship again on this country."
Courtesy:
The New York Times
BBC
The Associated Press
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