What the Troop Withdrawal from Iraq Means

What the Troop Withdrawal from Iraq Means

As U.S. combat operations finally cease in Iraq this month, much is being made of the withdrawal's significance. But while the country's presence in Iraq is more invisible, the U.S. is still robustly engaged in Iraq. The Daily Beast's Louise Roug, who lived in Baghdad between 2005 and 2007, notes that although Iraq has seen a cultural resurgence and in some instances has proudly embraced its own security forces, there are still problems with which the nation will have to contend—namely, how to deal with the Arab-Kurd fault-line and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups and other radical operatives. As for America's on-the-ground and strategic involvement with the nation's affairs, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Affairs said this week, "We're not disengaging from Iraq; our engagement will increase. It's just the ratio of military versus civilian engagement is changing." The U.S. will keep an embassy in Baghdad, as well as two consulates and two other "embassy branch offices" in strategically crucial areas.

Read it at The Daily Beast
The man I saw, facedown in a ditch near the Tigris River, was not a victim of death squads (as I first thought) but a reveler who had had too much whisky.(well i'd say that is progress!