Iraqis poured to the streets of Baghdad and other major cities to mark the pullback of American combat forces from urban areas. After six years of American military occupation, Iraqi forces formally took control of towns and cities across their country.
The scenes of celebrations speak volumes for the notoriety of the occupation. The festivity has brought to the forefront an important reality: how pleased Iraqis are to see the back of the U.S. troops.
Ahead of the pullout, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the Iraqi cities a “great victory”. The Iraqi government declared a public holiday to mark the withdrawal as National Sovereignty Day.
In June 30th article for the Time, Mark Thompson says “The Iraqis didn't even wait for the withdrawal to take effect before beginning their celebrations on June 29, with patriotic songs blaring from police and military outposts as Iraqi-operated military vehicles cruised city streets.”
According to a security pact, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which was signed on November 17, 2008 by the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and the then U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker, that U.S. troops should pull out from Iraq's urban areas by the end of June 2009 and be withdrawn from the country altogether by the end of 2011.
The pullback from the cities is actually a redeployment rather than a withdrawal. The U.S. still has over 130,000 troops in Iraq. Besides, it is estimated that another 132,000 military contractors, including around 36,000 American citizens, are operating across Iraq.
“The original intent of moving troops out of the cities was to reduce the U.S. military role and send the message to Iraqis that the United States would be leaving the country soon. But troops that are no longer sleeping in the cities will still take part in operations within Iraqi cities; they will serve in "support" and "advisory" roles, rather than combat functions. Such "reclassification" of troops as military trainers is another example of how the United States is circumventing the terms of the SOFA agreement,” write Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) policy outreach director Erik Leaver and FPIF contributor Daniel Atzmon in 'A Withdrawal in Name Only'.
“Instead of sending soldiers stationed in cities home, the military has been expanding and building new bases in rural areas to accommodate soldiers affected by the June 30 deadline. And Congress just passed a war-spending bill that includes more funding for military construction inside Iraq,” Leaver and Atzmon say.
In a June 26, 2009 article for 'Slate', Fred Kaplan said “Article 24 of the agreement requires not only "all U.S. combat forces" to "withdraw from Iraqi cities, villages, and towns … no later than 30 June 2009," but also "all U.S. forces" (not just "combat forces") to "withdraw from all Iraqi territory, water, and airspace no later than 31 December 2011."
But most of the U.S. troops will remain for many months, at least another year. And as many as 35,000-50,000 residual forces, will continue to stay beyond the 2011 deadline stipulated in the SOFA for what U.S. officials call “training and advising” roles.
But have all the combat troops left the Iraqi cities? No. The U.S. commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno conceded on June 30th that “a small number (of American soldiers) would remain in cities to train, advise, coordinate with Iraqi security forces, as well as enable them to move forward.” Odierno, however, refused to give any specific number.
The security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq includes a provision that puts it to a popular vote. The referendum is scheduled to be held in July 30, 2009. If the Iraqi people vote down the SOFA in the referendum, U.S. troops could be forced to leave Iraq more quickly and the U.S. will have twelve months to get out of Iraq completely.
Leaver and Atzmon say “The measure is likely to lose if it goes to popular vote given the widespread opposition to the SOFA in Iraq, which is seen as legitimizing the U.S. occupation until 2011. According to the latest polls, published in the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, 73% of Iraqis oppose the presence of coalition forces. If the SOFA is struck down by the vote, U.S. forces could be forced out of Iraq immediately as the forces would not be legally protected. The referendum could create big problems for the Obama administration, which has quietly discouraged the Iraqi government from holding it. The pressure from the administration is inconsistent with their goals of promoting democracy in Iraq. The people, who have been forced to live under occupation for the past six years, deserve a chance to have their voices heard.”
The recent surge in deadly attacks in Iraq pursues a clear goal: the Iraqi security forces are incapable of protecting Iraq and that the withdrawal of foreign forces will create a security vacuum. The bomb attacks seem to have targeted the credibility of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's government to handle security in the nation and the confidence of the Iraqi people ahead of the popular vote on SOFA.
