Chicago Tribune Editorial: Independence Day

Chicago Tribune Editorial: Independence Day
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
June 29, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-0629edit1jun29,0,2051456.story


Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has declared Tuesday to be a national holiday, promising feasts and festivals to celebrate the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq's cities. For Iraqis, it's a sort of Independence Day.

But that's cause for an American celebration, too. Although American troops will remain in Iraq for training and support missions, the Iraqis now step to the fore, charged with the security of their country. For America, this is the beginning of the end of the Iraq war.

How did we get to this hopeful moment? President George W. Bush set the stage for this transfer of responsibility with the 2007 surge of American troops to quash sectarian violence in Baghdad. It worked. President Barack Obama wisely has hewed to a gradual, reasonable schedule for an American withdrawal, allowing the Iraqis enough time to develop their forces. The Iraqis themselves pushed back from the brink of civil war. With American help, they uprooted Al Qaeda and its culture of death. They embraced democracy, turning out in thrilling numbers to elect government leaders. By almost every measure, Iraq is more peaceful, prosperous and free than it has been in decades. Despite a spasm of bombings in recent days, violence is down significantly:

In May 2007, in the early stages of the surge, 126 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, according to a Brookings Institution tally. In May 2009, that number was 25. In May of 2007, 197 Iraqi security forces died. May 2009: 39.

Most telling of all: Iraqi civilian deaths from the war. In May 2007: 2,600. In May 2009: 340.

There are also economic measures of the country's progress: Electricity production has soared since May of 2007. Iraq's oil industry is recovering; the country is set to auction development rights to some of its largest oil fields to foreign companies.

All of that would be impossible without political advances, without Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds hashing out differences and agreeing to share power.

A caution: There's still much political and military work to be accomplished by Iraqis who have to prove they can do it. Coalitions can crumble and, as we've seen with the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, terrorists and insurgents can regroup.

Preventing that is now Iraq's challenge.

U.S. commanders say decisions about Americans in Iraq -- where they are, what they do -- now rest with the Iraqis. "We will be gone in whatever way the Iraqi government tells us to be gone," Lt. Col. Timothy M. Karcher told a reporter.

That certainly is everyone's hope: a continuing success story with no need for U.S. troops to return to the cities en masse. The American commanders don't want to go back into Iraq's cities, nor do Iraq's leaders want them there.

Predicting how well Iraq will quell its demons is treacherous. But we do know this: By the end of 2011, all U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Iraq.

They will leave a country that was broken, but is now on the mend. They will leave Iraq to its people and their impressive determination to be free.