Iraqis are one step closer to total control of nation

There were no “thank-you” flowers from the people of Iraq for U.S. troops as they withdrew from Baghdad and other cities — just as there weren’t any “welcome” flowers when Americans entered the capital city six years ago after they overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein.

Indeed, as Iraqis on Tuesday celebrated another milestone in their country’s drive toward democracy, Americans were portrayed as foreign invaders and occupiers, instead of as liberators.

Former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who masterminded the 2003 invasion, were wrong in their contention that U.S.-led coalition forces would be greeted with flowers by the Iraqi people.

The former president and vice president were under the illusion that the Iraqi people were so tired of Saddam’s iron-fisted rule that the overthrow of the dictator would somehow end centuries of sectarian enmity. It did not. Rather, the invasion opened the floodgates of violence that has resulted in more than 4,000 Americans and many more Iraqis being killed, and thousands being injured.

The failure to quickly quell the civil war that ensued resulted in more than 160,000 U.S. troops being deployed and more than $1 trillion being spent by the time this campaign is over.

In fact, the withdrawal of American soldiers from Baghdad and other cities is just another step toward the ultimate pull out from Iraq by the end of 2011.

There still are 130,000 troops in the country and they are now deployed in the outskirts of the urban areas. They are available should the sectarian violence and suicide bombings by Islamic extremist groups turn the cities into killing fields.

The celebration by thousands of Iraqis that accompanied the takeover of security in Baghdad and other areas by the Iraqi military and police was tempered by this reality: A car bomb devastated a food market in the city of Kirkuk, killing at least 27 people. The early evening attack bore the hallmarks of Sunni extremists groups like al-Qaida in Iraq. It was the second such attack in Kirkuk; a truck bombing killed 82 people on June 20.

Confidence

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is up for election in January, insisted that Iraq’s security forces will be able to deal with attempts to unravel the democratic system of government that is in place. He also expressed confidence that the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds will not return to their warring ways that were the cause of so much pain and suffering following Saddam’s ouster.

But, that could be wishful thinking on al-Maliki’s part. An unstable Iraq is very much in the interest of Islamic extremists who have as their goal the creation of theocracies similar to the one in Iran.

As the recent election in Iran showed, the will of the people does not trump the authority of the ayatollahs who actually run the country. The president is a mere figurehead and parliament is nothing more than a political prop. The election made clear that the clerics are not going to let Iran follow in the footsteps of Iraq.

But the price of freedom is high, as the U.S. has found as it has guided the Iraqi people from a dictatorship to democratic government.

It is now up to them to make sure that the sacrifices America has made in the lives of its fighting men and women, in the high number of life-altering injuries, and in the expenditure of dollars will not be for naught.

Al-Maliki has his work cut out for him. The presence of American troops until the end of 2011 will serve as a safety blanket, but after that Iraq will be on its own.

The Iraqi government, the military, the police and the citizenry have two-and-a-half years to deal with all the issues that have so far undermined the country’s economic and social rebirth.