Change has come to Iraq. Ahead of Tuesday’s deadline, American troops have fanned out into the countryside and out of urban centers like Baghdad, leaving a byzantine maze of walled-off ghettos that stemmed some of the sectarian violence for a time for Iraqis to figure out.
Change hasn’t come to Iraq. Combat troops stand at the ready, waiting to be asked to provide Iraq’s soldiers with assistance should a situation warrant it. An “unspecified number of troops are staying in cities to advise and train Iraqi forces.” Our armed forces aren’t leaving the country just yet – a gradual drawdown from 130,000 troops kicks off in the fall, and will continue until August 31, 2011. Even then, 50,000 or so “remnant forces” will stay in Iraq indefinitely, protecting American interests.
Change or no change, we’re going to see whether Iraq’s government can exert control over its country, or if the bloody civil war the surge paused but did not eradicate will pick up where it left off.
