This is pretty much the timeline that President Bush and his commanders had in mind for Iraq. I’m glad that Obama hasn’t seen fit to muck it up
U.S. combat troops prepared to leave the last of Iraq’s cities on Tuesday, a move hailed by authorities as restoring sovereignty and applauded by Iraqis even as they voice fears it may leave them more vulnerable.
By midnight on Tuesday, all U.S. combat units must have withdrawn from Iraq’s urban centers and redeployed to bases outside, according to a bilateral security pact that also requires all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
The last U.S. combat troops left central Baghdad on Monday, withdrawing to two large bases near the capital’s airport, and withdrawals from other cities were underway. Some troops tasked with training and advising Iraqi forces will stay behind.
The Iraqi government is planning banner celebrations for June 30, which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has declared “National Sovereignty Day,” a public holiday.
Festivities will include a military parade in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic compound, viewed by Iraqis as the ultimate symbol of the foreign military presence until Iraqi forces took control of it in January.
Iraqi forces began their own celebrations on Monday, decking Humvees and other vehicles with flowers and Iraqi flags. Signs were draped on Baghdad’s ubiquitous concrete blast walls reading “Iraq: my nation, my glory, my honor.”
Really, you can’t blame them for wanting their country back, however, this gives them the opportunity to be the masters of their own destiny, as was originally planned once Saddam and his regime was deposed. 50 years from now, President George Bush will be vindicated by historians for setting Iraq on the path to democracy.
Teach we have put in place a government that is more friendly to Iran than they are to the USA. Iraq was the FIRST country to congratulate Iran after its disputed election.