Iraq celebrates U.S. withdrawal – of course
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki declared a new dawn on Saturday as Iraq celebrated the departure of American troops at a ceremony held amid tight security and without Maliki’s key political rivals…
Saturday marked the end of the 2008 security pact agreed by then-President George W. Bush and was the last day for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq, nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and allowed the Shi’ite majority to take power.
Except for a small military contingent attached to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the last of the American troops departed nearly two weeks ago.
“I declare this day, the 31st of December, on which the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq is complete, as a national day,” said Maliki in a televised ceremony, surrounded by security officials in dress uniforms.
“It is Iraq’s day. It is a feast for all Iraqis. It is the dawn of a new day in Mesopotamia … Your country is free.”
Maliki said he would work to maintain freedom and “respect political, intellectual and religious diversity…”
Hundreds of people attended the ceremony in a Baghdad sports arena usually used for basketball and volleyball, but there was no sign of Iyad Allawi, the head of the cross-sectarian Iraqiya political bloc, Osama al-Nujaifi, the Sunni speaker of parliament or other Sunni lawmakers and rivals.
The venue was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and police. Army helicopters hovered overhead, snipers occupied positions on nearby buildings and explosives-sniffing dogs checked attendees…
In Babil province, south of the capital, an Iraqi flag was raised to the top of a 24-metre pole in a ceremony attended by Governor Mohammed al-Masoudi and about 500 guests.
Soldiers and police paraded with banners, one reading “Sovereignty day, a day of dignity for all Iraqis.”
Iraqi forces held a military parade at the Habaniya base in western Anbar province, where Lieutenant General Abdul-Aziz al-Ubaidi said: “The armed forces are ready to protect our homeland, its waters, its land and its sky.”
Anyone out there with more than half a brain and sufficient reading ability to wander thoughtfully through the history of oil-bearing sands in the Middle east – who still thinks the United States will be held in any higher regard by the people of Iraq, say, than the level of warm feelings we guaranteed among Iranians when we destroyed their first democracy and reinstalled an inherited monarchy?
Americans believing the agitprop from our own government about “liberating” Iraq deserve all the surprises waiting down the road.
