Iraq Celebrates National Sovereignty Day - Cross Your Fingers
wesmorgan1Courtesy CNN:
Tuesday marked the deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraq's towns and cities -- a long-anticipated date that has been met by street festivals in Baghdad.
Celebrations were tempered, however, by fears of renewed violence as insurgents seek to use the date to stage new attacks.
Newscasters on state TV network Al-Iraqiya draped Iraqi flags around their necks as an on-screen clock counted down to midnight Monday (5 p.m. ET). Earlier Monday evening, hundreds of people danced and sang in a central Baghdad park to mark the U.S. pullout.
"I feel the same way as any Iraqi feels -- I will feel my freedom and liberation when I don't see an American stopping an Iraqi on the street," said Awatef Jwad of Baghdad.
[...]
While many Iraqis publicly said they are glad to see Americans out of their neighborhoods, some cited worries about what the future may hold without the U.S. military nearby.
"Without the Americans, we were afraid of each other," said Hanaa Abdul Hassan of Baghdad.
"And now that the Americans are leaving, we will be more afraid. We knew the Americans were holding them back, so now I don't know what's going to happen," she said, without specifying who "they" were.
Here's hoping that the Iraqi security forces are the equal of whatever will be thrown their way in the next few days. It's a near-certainty that those insurgents who remain at large will continue their recent spate of attacks, but this day has been a long time (and much blood) in coming.
Those who supported the war in Iraq will undoubtedly trumpet this day as a vindication of the decision to invade, while those who opposed the war will--just as undoubtedly--use today a an argument for a speedy return to status quo ante and completing a rapid withdrawl of US forces. Setting that aside, I think that both sides can agree that we'll be wishing/hoping/praying for relative calm in Iraq, a strong and steady presence from the Iraqi government when that calm is broken, and continued improvements in that nation.
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Reader Comments (8)
Wes says;
"Those who supported the war in Iraq will undoubtedly trumpet this day as a vindication of the decision to invade, while those who opposed the war will--just as undoubtedly--use today a an argument for a speedy return to status quo ante and completing a rapid withdrawal of US forces. "
The status quo, meaning going back to before the U.S invaded Iraq is gone. Saddam the dictator is gone. The Revolutionary Guard is gone. Indiscriminate torture and killing by Iraqi’s on Iraqi’s for the sake of Hussein is gone. Whether you believe we should have invaded or not, Iraq today is better and its future is much brighter than the "status quo."
You're right, of course - I was referring to status quo ante in terms of an absence of US troops.
Also if Bush would have listened to Obama, Pelosi and Reid in April 2006 when they all said the war is lost there would be no Iraqi National Sovereignty day.
The biggest threat to Iraqi security going forward will be Iran-sponsored terrorism:
"The top U.S. commander in Iraq said the latest deaths show militants remain a threat but said he was confident Iraqi security forces could face the challenge.
"It reminds me that there are still dangers out there. There are still people out there who do not want the government of Iraq to succeed. They do not want to see a democratic country move forward," Gen. Ray Odierno said Tuesday at a news conference.
He said many of the attacks in Baghdad were being carried out by militants being funded or trained by Iran, including powerful roadside bombs and rocket strikes against the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy.
But, he said, the number of such attacks was "significantly smaller" due to security measures making them more difficult to carry out.
"Iran is still supporting, funding and training surrogates who operate inside of Iraq. They have not stopped and I don't think they will stop," Odierno told reporters at Camp Victory, a U.S. military base on the western edge of Baghdad."
After the bombing today in Kirkuk, one irate Kurd said none of the police were guarding the market because they were off "celebrating Sovereignity Day!" That is a hoot.
The deeper problem is Iran and Syria's insitence on meddling with Iraq's religeous cancer that is currently in remission. Neither of these countries want a secular democracy next door, especially a successful one. Iraq is all alone out there now. Maybe Turkey can be a buddy (very big maybe) and a buffer against those other goons. I want to see Iraq succeed but as a nation they have to put aside their cultural and religeous differences to see who the enemy really is then there will be peace in the streets.
There was a huge and I mean huge American Embassy built over there in the last 3 years. We ain't really going nowhere soon. Nevertheless.........
Ironically, excerpts from Saddam Hussein's interrogations seem to indicate that his public posturing on military strength and WMD was meant to intimidate Iran, not provoke the US. In fact, Hussein makes it pretty clear that he was far more worried about Iran's theocracy than he was any US response to his bluster. Oops.
This "National Sovereignty Day" is basically fictitious. Iraqis have no meaningful control military, civically or economically. In some cases, the celebrated event (withdrawal from cities), didn't even occur. Instead, the U.S. military and the Iraqi governments agreed to redraw the lines of some of the cities so they could *claim* they left.
I wrote a longer analysis here:
http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/2009/07/06/the-iraq-show/