Iraqis are singing and dancing in streets as their so-called liberators complete their troops' pullback from the towns and cities of their country, by Monday night. "Our sovereignty has returned", said an elated Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, as he designated June 30, National Sovereignty Day. Of the 133,000 America's and their allied troops, only a handful will remain in Iraq to provide support to Iraqi security forces.
The withdrawal is to be completed by end 2011. Al-Maliki government is cautiously optimistic about its capability to secure the country with the help of its 500,000-strong police force - though during the run-up to the withdrawal date, violence struck some important Iraqi cities, particularly Kirkuk, the oil hub in northern Iraq. Under the Status of Forces Agreement, US troops cannot return to urban areas to assist government security forces in maintaining law and order.
No wonder one of modern history's foulest, foreign aggressions is nearing its ignominious end. Over the last six years, since the American invasion, something like four thousand body-bags were ferried to the United States, while many more suffered serious injuries and quite a few, who could not put up with the 'logic' of this adventure, committed suicide. George Bush would have very much liked to withdraw from Iraq, but badly bugged as he was by his big ego, he did not. For Barack Obama, it is not such an issue of ego; he correctly concluded that the US military adventure in Iraq must end.
On the face of it, the Bush administration invaded Iraq to dislodge Saddam Hussein accusing him of reviving Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme that was earlier, completely taken out by the Israeli air force in a surgical strike. Fake drawings were prepared, with the active connivance of the British government of Tony Blair, and presented to the UN Security Council by the then US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
What a charade it was! Within a fortnight, the relentless US air strikes turned the once most-advanced Arab country into ruins. The cruel dictator was gone, but freedom did not come, as Iraqis remained the victims of a replay of repressive authoritarian governance of the invaders' proxies. In fact, while Saddam took away their political freedom, their so-called liberators went beyond that and turned them into paupers as well.
Of course, the exit of foreign forces is being celebrated, but does it mean that Iraq will become a full-fledged working democracy? Analysts doubt Al-Maliki's political ambitions, as he seems to be building an authoritarian state. And, as for an excuse to lean on for total control, the Sunni Arab-Shiite Muslim schism, so assiduously crafted and encouraged during the foreign occupation, will always be there to provide him the rationale to keep the people on a short leash.
Thanks to the American policy of promoting ethnic pride, the heretofore, one-people, one-country Iraq is now an ethnically divided state. Iraq is floating in oil; it was its oil that 'invited' the US forces. The latest estimates put the country's proven oil reserves at 112 billion barrels and its "probable reserves" at 130 billion barrels - almost equal to Saudi Arabia's 160 billion barrels reserves.
How important is Iraq's oil to the West, an indication of this became available on Monday, when representatives of some 30 international oil companies descended on Baghdad to get a feel of the place, once the US troops leave. So if its oil had brought the war, it can bring peace to Iraq also. Iraqis are history-conscious and they are aware of their importance in the world community.
As they emerge from the gruelling spells of dictatorship under Arab socialist Ba'ath Party and the foreign occupation, they know that they have every chance of recovering their capabilities and potential to the fullest, and rebuilding their country. The peace and tranquillity of Iraq is of special interest to the people of Pakistan.
They rejoice at the evacuation of aggression from a fellow Muslim country and hope the same would serve as a precursor to US approach in relation to its troop presence in Afghanistan. With foreign troops withdrawn from the cities one may hope for more relaxed and secure visits to the holy places and shrines in Iraq.