New York Times
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
June 30, 2009BAGHDAD — Iraq celebrated the withdrawal of American troops from its cities with parades, fireworks and a national holiday on Tuesday as the prime minister trumpeted the country’s sovereignty from American occupation to a wary public.
Even with a deadly car bombing and other mayhem marring the day — the deadline for the American troop pullback under an agreement that took effect Jan. 1 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki seized on the occasion to position himself as a proud leader of a country independent at last, looking ahead to the next milestone of parliamentary elections in January.
He made no mention of American troops in a nationally televised speech, even though nearly 130,000 remain in the country; most had already pulled back from Iraq’s cities before Tuesday’s deadline…
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! American troops pull out of the Iraq cities. In a slight variation on the Bush Administration’s early predictions that we would be met with open arms, the Iraqi people were celebrating our leaving by dancing in the streets. The event was heralded on the New York Times web site [marked in yellow on the right]. Six years in the making, costing several Trillion dollars, a quarter of a million Iraqi lives, the death of four thousand plus American soldiers – Operation Iraqi Freedom may finally be winding down [though what they’re celebrating is freedom from us].
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