Iraqis rethink U.S. pullout as deadline nears

[tim5400]

September 11th, 2011 06:17 pm · Posted in NEWS (Iraq & World Currency)

BAGHDAD — Sheik Kamal Maamouri, the leader of one of the largest

Shiite-dominated tribes in Iraq, used to call the U.S. troops here occupiers,

demanding they withdraw because he said they killed and imprisoned innocent

members of his tribe.

But now he is not so sure he wants the Americans to

go, at least not yet. Like many others across Iraq, he felt conflicted, and a

bit frightened, after it was revealed last week the U.S. may keep 3,000 to 4,000

troops in Iraq next year.

“The political changes that have occurred here

and the security problems have led a lot of Iraqis, including me, to change our

minds about the withdrawal of U.S. forces,” Maamouri said.

That was a

view few Shiites, empowered by the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni government,

would have spoken — when it seemed the U.S. would never leave.

“They

bring a balance to Iraqi society,” he said.

Though Iraqis have called for

Americans to leave from the start of the occupation in 2003, the prospect of

such a drastic drawdown, from the 48,000 troops here now, has revealed another

side of the Iraqi psyche. This is a nation that distrusts itself, with little

faith in the government’s own security forces or political leaders.

It is

as if people here never actually believed that the U.S. would leave, so all

along demands for a pullout were never carefully weighed against the potential

fallout.

This is not to say Iraqis no longer want to be liberated from a

foreign military, which of course they say they do. But Iraqis who once cheered

the fall of a dictator recall all too vividly the chaos and bloodshed that came

after Hussein’s iron rule was broken.

The politics of occupation have not

changed. For months, U.S. officials warned the Iraqis that if they did not issue

a formal request to stay, and soon, it would become logistically impossible to

slow the pullout. After months of stalling, the government agreed to open

negotiations to leave some forces behind.

Then last week it was revealed

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is supporting a plan to keep as few as 3,000

soldiers in Iraq, enough to provide some training to Iraqi forces, and not much

else.

From the north to the center to the south, many Iraqis said they

were shocked by such a small number and feared the few Americans would become

irresistible targets for violence, unable to safeguard themselves, let alone

Iraq.

“If the Americans withdraw, there will be problems because there

will be no great power in the country that everyone respects,” said Mateen

Abdullah Karkukli, a 43-year-old Turkmen from Kirkuk.

But, reflecting on

his own mixed feelings, he said, “If they stay, there will be a bigger problem

because insurgents and militias will have justification to resume their armed

activities.”

LINK

[Butifldrm]

tim5400, I think we will see many more articles just like this one asking the US to have a greater presence post Dec. 31, 2011. JMO

[Perspective2011]

It's like the old saying "You won't miss it until it's gone".