Iraq: Exit wounds
Time to leave Iraq for UK and coalition troops
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Friday, 15, May 2009 11:39
Six years have passed since Saddam Hussein was ousted from power in Baghdad. Finally, coalition troops are withdrawing from the scarred country.
As the world's attention shifts to the mountainous border region shared by Afghanistan and Pakistan, inthenews.co.uk's Alex Stevenson assesses progress in Iraq in the first months of 2009.
Security improved?
As the insurgency heightened to its climax in 2006 questions were being asked about the fundamental threat to the success of George Bush's Middle Eastern adventure.
The US president's troop surge of the following summer was an effective answer, neutralising much of the violence and lowering security levels.
It did not completely nullify the threat of violence hanging over the heads of ordinary Iraqis, however.
The year began badly, with at least 35 killed after a suicide bomber targeted a Shia procession in Baghdad on January 4th. The explosion took place outside the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine.
Then on February 13th a female suicide bomber blew herself up at Iskandariya, 40km south of Baghdad, as Shia Muslim pilgrims travelled to Karbala for Arbain. At least 30 people were killed and more than 80 injured.
There was no respite in March. On the 26th at least 16 people died in a car bomb attack in Baghdad.
And in April at least nine Iraqis belonging to a US-allied militia group were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Babil province.
These incidents have not seen the massive loss of life of some of the worst attacks. But the cumulative effect is still having a crippling effect on the country.
Political progress
The latter attack took place at an army post where members from the Awakening groups so important to improvements in security were collecting their salaries.
Their contribution has been vital. The Awakening councils consist of Sunni Muslim Iraqis, paid and trained by the US, who have taken up arms against al-Qaida insurgents.
In weeks preceding the bombing the arrest of leaders of the councils raised tensions with the government of Baghdad, which has a majority Shia Muslim leadership.
At least prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's government received a boost when it won provincial elections on January 31st. The lack of violence then was as big a success as his victory in the polls itself.
Troop withdrawals
Regardless of these difficulties, British, American and other troops have been quietly quitting the country.
On January 1st American and British troops handed over control of important bases to Iraqi government troops in ceremonies in Baghdad and Basra.
New US president Barack Obama, having made opposition to US troops in Iraq one of the key plans of his election campaign, quickly ordered that the last American forces in the country would leave by August 2010.
Speaking a month before the sixth anniversary of the Iraqi war, Obama paid tribute to those Americans who had served in the conflict claiming they had borne the "heaviest burden", but claimed they had "got the job done".
Meanwhile the British packed up their bags and left Basra for good on April 30th.
Forces in Basra handed over control to the US military, marking what prime minister Gordon Brown described as the "closing chapter" in combat activities.
Lasting scars
The prime minister's claim that Iraq was a "success story" will have jarred the sensibilities of many.
The scars of the last six years hang heavy over the country. Images of prisoner abuse by coalition troops, popular anger against the 'occupation' and frustration with the Blackwater scandal mean most Iraqis will not be sorry to see troops leave. And the home populations of the countries most involved in the 2003 conflict have been restless too.
Amid the backdrop of simmering violence and departing soldiers, these tensions have refused to go away in the last four months.
January saw a flurry of activity around the publication of Cabinet minutes in the lead-up to the decision to go to war in Iraq. Tony Blair's admission that "there is not a single day of my life" when he does not doubt the Iraq war did not help.
In April al-Maliki ruffled feathers by branding US soldiers 'criminals'. According to the Iraqi authorities two people died when a house in Kut was targeted by US soldiers. Baghdad and Washington had agreed US troops were no longer allowed to conduct military operations without Iraqi approval and coordination.
Then came the depressing conviction of a former US soldier, guilty of raping and killing an Iraqi girl and her family, in May.
During his trial the court heard how Green, 19 at the time, raped Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, 14, and then shot and killed her, her father, mother and six-year-old sister. The incident occurred in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, in 2006.
Saddam may no longer be in power. Security may no longer be quite as non-existent as it was. But as exit strategies continue to move forward in Iraq the country will not forget its recent history in a hurry.