WASHINGTON (ABP) – As President Obama announced the end of American troops’ combat role in Iraq Aug. 31, an international Christian peace group issued a report questioning the United States’ projection of a bright future for the war-torn Middle Eastern country.
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“[T]onight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended,” Obama said, in a televised evening address from the Oval Office. “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.”
Since the draw-down of U.S. combat forces in Iraq began last year, almost 100,000 troops have been pulled from the country and U.S. bases have closed or been transferred to the control of Iraqi forces. Obama said that leaves behind only troops who will train and advise Iraqi security forces, participate with them in targeted anti-terrorism operations and protect U.S. civilians working in Iraq.
American officials have generally credited a “surge” — an infusion of 20,000 new U.S. troops that began in 2007 and was targeted toward pacifying, block by block, the sectarian conflict and militants across Iraq — with reducing violence significantly and enabling national elections to take place in March with little incident.
But the pre-election government is still in place because the newly elected parties have been unable, so far, to negotiate a workable governing coalition in Iraq’s Parliament — and some observers have questioned whether Iraq’s future is as sanguine as Obama’s speech suggested.
Shortly before the address, the international group Christian Peacemaker Teams issued a report based on interviews with Iraqis. It said they are profoundly uneasy about their country’s future prospects.
“Their diverse expressed opinions show that the truth is much more complex than the U.S. narrative seeks to present,” the report said. “The contribution of the ‘surge’ to a reduction in violence in Iraq is questionable. Opinions on the reliability of the Iraqi security forces, although not entirely negative, vary widely. Iraq faces a highly uncertain future, perhaps becoming a success story, but perhaps experiencing more bloodshed. The U.S. should think creatively about ways to support the people of Iraq as they rebuild their country.”
The report said the reduction in sectarian attacks since 2007 may not be permanent.
“Since the beginning of 2010, the steady reduction in violence has leveled out, and the number of Iraqi civilians killed has actually risen substantially in July, with twice as many civilians killed as in June, making it the worst month in two years,” the report continued. “U.S. forces withdrew from the cities in 2009, but the Iraqi security forces are greatly dependent on American support, and the supposed end to U.S. combat missions in Iraq, August 2010, appears to be mostly a semantic change. It is difficult to see clearly the direction Iraq is going at the moment. In fact, it might be impossible.”
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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
Read more:
Transcript of President Obama’s remarks on Iraq
YouTube video of President Obama’s remarks on Iraq
Christian Peacemaker Teams report on Iraq
Related ABP content:
Opinion: As the Iraq war ‘ends,’ a retrospective (8/30/2010)