Iraq; June 30th is just around the corner and the U.S. is slow to move

Sherri Siegele

Pulling out of Iraq is proving not to be a series of simple tasks. Per last year’s SOFA agreement the U.S. has to pull its troops out of all major cities my June 30th. But, U.S. and Iraq commanders in their private powwows seem to have “redrawn” Baghdad borders in the name of security and stability and plan to keep troops inside city borders. Citizens are not happy about this. Just last month the U.S. raided the city of Kut leaving an innocent female civilian dead. Iraq’s prime minister said this was a violation of SOFA and wanted the U.S. soldiers turned over to the Iraq court. The U.S. claims it told Iraqi authorities about the raid in advance but Iraqi authorities said they did not authorize it. What a mess! Then there’s the cities of Mosul and Diyala. They remain volatile so the commander in chief of Iraqi forces, Maliki, is trying to decide whether the U.S. should pull out or not. He seems to be feeding lip service to the citizens by telling them the U.S. will be gone while still considering letting the U.S. stay. Citizens are suspicious and won’t be happy if troops stay beyond June 30th. Overall, the U.S. is being challenged to give the Iraqi government full decision making power while still influencing decisions. The U.S. has been in charge for so long and the transition of power is not coming easy. Whatever they do the U.S. cannot make it appear as if they are making decisions otherwise more conflict will rise.