American soldiers on Sunday surveyed the damage from a truck bomb that had exploded the day before in Kirkuk. Marwan Ibrahim/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFrom The New York Times:
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has taken to calling the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq’s cities by next Tuesday a “great victory,” a repulsion of foreign occupiers he compares to the rebellion against British troops in 1920.
And the Americans are going along with it, symbolically and substantively.
American commanders have hewed far more closely to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing combat forces from Iraq’s cities than expected only a few weeks ago, according to American and Iraqi officials.
They have closed outposts — even in Baghdad and still-troubled Mosul in the north — that they had initially lobbied the Iraqis to keep open, having concluded, the officials said, that pressing the case would be counterproductive given the political significance that Mr. Maliki had given the deadline.
The day itself has been declared a national holiday, though it is not yet clear whether Iraq will hold the “feast and festivals” he recently promised.
Read more ....
Update: Iraqis have second thoughts over June 30 date for US troops to leave -- Times Online
My Comment: After 6 years of war .... with the exception of a few dead enders and groups looking for revenge .... everyone must now be fed up with war.
I heard a guest on the Colbert Report say that at one point during the war, 3500 civilians in Iraq died per week, which is roughly equivalent to "a 9-11 every week." It's a no-brainer that they would want the U.S. out.
ReplyDelete