My comment is live on the World News Network on August 31,2010 on the Subject: "Iraq premier hails US troop withdrawal "-Khaleej Times.

With best compliments,
B.N.Singh.

Subject: "Iraq premier hails US troop withdrawal "-Khaleej Times.

Bishwa Nath Singh from Dalmianagar (Bihar),India.

The Prime Minister of Iraq has very clearly said that the end of US combat operations on August 31,2010 has restored Iraq’s sovereignty and meant it stood as an equal to the United States, despite political deadlock and persistent violence. US troop levels were cut to fifty thousand before the partly symbolic deadline of Aug. 31,2010 as was pledged by President of US Barack Obama to fulfill his pledge to end the war launched by his predecessor George W. Bush. The six remaining US brigades will turn their focus to training Iraqi police and troops as Iraq takes charge of its own destiny ahead of a full US withdrawal by the end of next year. Iraq today is sovereign and independent that is what Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri al-Maliki told Iraqis in a televised address to mark the US forces’ shift to assisting rather than leading the fight against a Sunni Islamist insurgency and Shi’ite militia. With the execution of the troop pullout, our relations with the United States have entered a new stage between two equal, sovereign countries. Barack Obama promised war-weary US voters he would extricate the United States from the war, launched by Bush with the stated aim of destroying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found. Almost a trillion dollars have been spent and more than four thousand for hundred forty US soldiers and over one lakh Iraqi civilians killed since the 2003 invasion. US President Barack Obama’s Democrats are battling to retain control of Congress in November elections and he faces other challenges a worsening war in Afghanistan and storm clouds over the economy. August 31,2010 deadline was to some extent a symbolic one. The 50,000 US soldiers staying on in Iraq for another 16 months are a formidable and heavily-armed force. Iraqi security forces have already been taking the lead since a bilateral security pact came into force in 2009. US soldiers pulled out of Iraqi towns and cities in June last year. Nevertheless, Iraqis are apprehensive as US military might is scaled down, especially amid a political impasse six months after an inconclusive election. We’ll be just fine, they’ll be just fine that is what US Vice President Joe Biden said after flying into Baghdad on the 30th of August 2010 to mark the end of combat operations and to urge Iraqi leaders to speed up the formation of a new government. Notwithstanding what the national press says about increased violence, the truth is things are very much different. Things are much safer, Biden told Maliki on Tuesday before their meeting was closed to the media. Toppled dictator Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party crowed that the US pullback was a result of devastating strikes against US troops by Iraqi resistance fighters.. Violence has declined sharply since the peak in 2006/07 of the sectarian slaughter unleashed by the invasion, but a recent series of attacks has rung alarm bells. The animosity that led to carnage between majority Shi’ites and once dominant Sunnis has not healed, and a potentially explosive dispute between Arabs and Kurds has not been resolved. More than 1.5 million Iraqis are still displaced after being driven from their homes by violence. Many live in squalor. Many Iraqis had hoped the March 7 election would chart a path towards stability at a time when deals to develop the country’s vast oilfields hold the promise of prosperity. Instead, the ballot could widen ethnic and sectarian rifts if the actual vote leader, ex-premier Iyad Allawi’s Sunni-backed cross-sectarian Iraqiya alliance, is excluded from power by the major Shi’ite-led political factions. Let us hope that this move will deliver good result to Iraq people at large who will work hard for their peace, happiness & prosperity! It is high time that we must express our gratitude to US President Barack Obama to stick to his words for betterment in Iraq.


World News Network.
August 31,2010 at 11:09 PM (IST)