Iraq celebrates U.S. exit, worries for future

The last vehicles in a convoy of the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division crosses the border from Iraq into Kuwait, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. The brigade's special troops battalion are the last American soldiers to leave Iraq. / AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

BAGHDAD - Even as Iraqis celebrated the departure of the last American troops Sunday, the dangers left behind after nearly nine years of war were on full display. Politicians feuded along the country's potentially explosive sectarian lines and the drumbeat of deadly violence went on.

The last U.S. convoy rumbled out of Iraq across the border into Kuwait around sunrise under a shroud of secrecy to prevent attacks on the departing troops. When news reached a waking Iraqi public, there was joy at the end of a presence that many Iraqis resented as a foreign occupation.

In the northern city of Mosul, pastry shop owner Muhannad Adnan said he had a swell of orders for cakes — up to 110 from the usual 70 or so a day — as families threw parties at home. Some asked him to ice the cakes with inscriptions of "congratulations for the end of occupation," he said.

But the happiness was shot through with worries over the future.

"Nobody here wants occupation. This withdrawal marks a new stage in Iraq's history," said Karim al-Rubaie, a Shiite shopowner in the southern city of Basra. But, he said, "the politicians who are running this country are just a group of thieves."

"These politicians will lead the country into sedition and civil war. Iraq now is like a weak prey among neighboring beasts."

In the morning, a bomb hidden under a pile of trash exploded on a street of spare car parts stores in a mainly Shiite district of eastern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four others. It was the latest in the near daily shootings and bombings — low-level but still deadly — that continue to bleed the country and that many fear will increase with the Americans gone.

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Violence is far lower than it was at the worst of the Iraq War, in 2006 and 2007, when Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias preyed on Iraqis around the country in a vicious sectarian conflict that nearly turned into complete civil war. But those armed groups still remain, and there are deep concerns whether Iraqi security forces are capable of keeping them in check without the help of U.S. troops.

Iraq's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Babaker Zebari said Sunday that his troops were up to the task of uprooting militant groups.

"There are only scattered terrorists hiding here and there and we are seeking intelligence information to eliminate them," Zebari said. "We are confident that there will be no danger."

Equally worrying, the resentments and bitterness between the Shiite majority and Sunni minority in this country of 31 million remain unhealed. The fear is that without the hand of American forces, the fragile attempts to get the two sides to work together could collapse and even turn to greater violence.

In an escalation of the rivalry, the main Sunni-backed political bloc on Sunday announced it was boycotting parliament to protest what they called Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's attempts to monopolize government positions — particularly those overseeing the powerful security forces. The bloc has complained of security forces' recent arrests of Sunnis that it says are "unjustified."

The Iraqiya bloc warned that it could take the further step of pulling its seven ministers out of al-Maliki's coalition government.

"We are against the concentration of security powers in the hands of one person, that is the prime minister," said Sunni lawmaker Hamid al-Mutlaq, a member of the bloc.

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[nativecc]

So they get their wish and the USA leaves Iraq. Now let's sit back and see what happens. Anyone think that there will now be an end to the violence or do you think it is going to escalate?

[Martha12345]

The way the Iraqi behaved when our troops lefts spoke volumes. They clearly had a chance for a better way of life, but did little to obtain it.

[tenbender]

You can't fix stupid. There will be killing as long as time stands in the mid east.

[stopoil]

History repeats itself. USA won the Iraq war in a couple of weeks and then stupidly did not have enough troops to secure arms depots and fill the void of the security vacuum that allowed the insurgency to happen. Now Obama leaves prematurely before the Iraqi's are able to provide security. Obama is so intent on pleasing the left he single handed has jeopardized the costly gains and decreased security to the USA and its allies. Iraq will fall to Iran and Iran will get nuclear weapons, continue to fund Hamas, Hezbollah and all those who seek to impose Islam on Europe and the USA. Between the Arab Spring Islamification of Middle East governments, Iran, Putin's Russia and China, this is no time to undermine America's security by abandoning Iraq.

[uniwold]

Okay you have nothing better to say than put our troops in harms way. I wish you were there fighting and you would have known... Its easy to sit on a couch and type away!! isn't it?

[stopoil]

To Uniwold. Take away the premise that we should never fight and you are right. Should there be a military, should it be only voluntary... The fact is tragically thousands of Americans died because Iraq was not secured after the invasion. Thousands of innocent Americans died in the 9/11 attacks. So, when to fight is a very valid issue. Not securing America will lead to countless American deaths at some point. So use the trained voluntary army or wait and hope for that by not taking the right action innocent Americans will die on their way to work or home. The threats to America are real and when Iran takes Iraq with its oil and then has the bomb I hope you can sleep well. The troops are my heroes and I wish there was no need for them to fight.

[nodreamer]

Now those devils will have to fend for themselves. Their religion will have them at each others throats within days. Meanwhile Iran lurks in the backgrouns waitng for revenge from the a--whoopin Iraq gave them.

[uniwold]

Are you saying that America worked for the devil, to liberate it all along.... Whos is worse, the devil or the devil enabler?

[worldcitizen1]

The US helped both sides in the Iran Iraq war, which Iraq started. That's US morality and and 'Christian values' for you.