Iraq has declared today a national holiday and is hosting festivals to mark the end of the US presence on the streets of its towns and cities, more than six years after president Saddam Hussein was ousted.
The much-anticipated milestone has been hailed as a return to sovereignty by Iraqi officials, who have maintained sometimes difficult relations with the US military throughout the years of occupation.
But the celebratory mood has angered some senior US officials and military commanders, who believe intensive training efforts with Iraqi forces have been forsaken, along with combat operations that have cost at least several thousand American lives since the fall of Baghdad.
PHOTO: AP
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fueled US anger at the weekend by describing the withdrawal as the result of Iraq’s successful bid to “repulse” the invaders.
“We are on the threshold of a new phase that will bolster Iraq’s sovereignty. It is a message to the world that we are now able to safeguard our security and administer our own affairs,” Maliki said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.
Under the new arrangements the US military will be reduced to a supporting role; it will only be able to join operations at Iraq’s invitation and will no longer be able to conduct solo combat operations.
The US’ 130,000 troops will almost exclusively be confined to bases from where they will gradually leave Iraq ahead of a final departure in the middle of 2011.
Security will be left to Iraqi army and police units, which insist they are ready to step into the breach. Despite diminishing this year, the US military role has remained significant, especially in clearing main roads of numerous improvised bombs and tracking the launch point of rockets that have been fired at US bases and Baghdad’s international zone.
Iraq on Sunday canceled leave for all its police and put them on high alert. Security was tightened across the capital, with troops and police closing roads and carefully searching cars.
“The alert has gone to all of our forces. There will be no days off. They are at their full strength across the whole country, at 100 percent,” said Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the interior ministry, which controls the police. “All of our units have seen an increase in their numbers, not only at the checkpoints.”
Some banners proclaimed the June 30 date as historically significant because it coincided with the Iraqi revolution of 1920, which eventually led to the British exit from Iraq.
In Karrada district, Muhammad Meri, an Iraqi soldier, said. “The Americans were occupiers; they did not come here to help Iraq and that’s why we are glad to get [shot] of them.”
His officer had a different view.
“We thank them for their help and Iraq should thank them also,” Lieutenant Hussein Abdul Kader said.
A local woman, Emtethal Wedeye, 40, welcomed the American departure, saying: “I dreamed a lot about the Americans arriving in Iraq and changing things. I wanted a new life and a better environment. I shook the Americans’ hands and decorated them with flowers. But our dreams were empty and now I am happy they are leaving.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of