Today marks a milestone in the history of U.S. involvement in Iraq as the U.S. completes the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraqi cities. Will the Iraqi security forces be able to keep the peace? This report from The Washington Post reports that the withdrawal is off to a rocky start:
At least 26 people were killed Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, marring a national holiday declared to celebrate the departure of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities after six years and three months of war. […] While more than 130,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, patrols by heavily armed soldiers in hulking vehicles have largely disappeared from Baghdad, Mosul and Iraq’s other urban centers. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the United States had closed or returned to local control 120 bases and facilities, and would formally turn over or close another 30 by the end of Tuesday, Reuters reported from Washington.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently hosted Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Rafe H. Al-Eissawi, who expressed his confidence that Iraqi security forces will be capable of maintaining the peace. Text, video and audio of his comments can be found here.
