US troops depart from Iraq cities

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Once death squads roamed the streets of Baghdad and bombs rocked the city on a daily basis. Then two years ago thousands of additional U.S. troops poured into the country, established neighborhood bases and took control of the Iraqi capital and other cities.

But after today, all but a small number of American soldiers will be left in Baghdad and Iraq’s other urban areas, as U.S. forces hand over security to Iraqi soldiers and police still largely untested as an independent fighting force.

If the Iraqis can suppress the violence, it will show the country is finally on the road to stability. If they fail, Iraq faces new bloodshed, straining a nation still divided along sectarian and ethnic lines. State television has been showing a countdown clock with a fluttering Iraqi flag and the words "June 30: National Sovereignty Day." Iraqis have been preparing for a massive party in Baghdad to celebrate the imminent withdrawal.

In the wake of several massive bombings that have killed more than 250 people this month, Iraqi security forces are out in numbers in the capital and motorcycles, favored by some bombers, have been banned from the streets. In a measure of the seriousness of the threat, all police and army leave has been canceled.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said he was confident it was the right time for the move. "I do believe they're ready," he told CNN in an interview. "We've seen constant improvement in the security force, we've seen constant improvement in governance."

Major Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, Iraq’s interior ministry's operations director and spokesman, warned of future attacks, adding: "Our expectation is that maybe some criminals will try to continue their attacks. "That is why orders came from the highest level of the prime minister that our forces should be 100 percent on the ground until further notice," Khalaf was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying.

Privately, many U.S. officers worry the Iraqis will be overwhelmed if violence surges, having relied for years on the United States for everything from firepower to bottled water.

Many Iraqis also fear more violence after a spike in bombings and shootings last week. U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned they expect more violence as insurgents try to stage a show of force in the days surrounding the withdrawal. "The Americans are pulling out but they haven't accomplished the task that they came for, which is defeating terrorism," Miriwan Kerim, a 32-year-old watch peddler in Kirkuk, told The Associated Press. "The security situation is still fragile so the withdrawal will not restore us to square one but to square zero."

No turn back

President Barack Obama insists there is no turning back. Handing over control of the cities brings him one step closer to fulfilling his campaign pledge to end an unpopular war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,300 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis. Despite public unease, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears eager to see the Americans leave and has urged Iraqis to hold steady against continued violence. Ahead of national elections next year, al-Maliki is portraying himself as the leader who defeated terrorism and ended the U.S. occupation.

Many Iraqis are also eager for the U.S. occupation to end, although more than 130,000 American troops remain in the country. "It is good to see the departure of American troops as the first phase of ending the foreign occupation of our country," said Ibrahim Ali, 26, a teacher from Kut. "Our troops are able to protect Iraqi cities, but they need more training and naval and air support."

The withdrawal, a condition of the U.S.-Iraqi security pact that took effect this year, marks the first major step toward withdrawing all American forces from the country by Dec. 31, 2011. Obama has said all combat troops will be gone by the end of August 2010. American soldiers will remain in the cities to train and advise Iraqi forces as well as protect U.S. diplomatic missions and provincial reconstruction teams.