Obama shows commitment to US withdrawal

By the end of Tuesday, all US troops had pulled out of all Iraqi cities and towns, handing over responsibility for security to the Iraqi forces, under the control of the Iraqi government.

After years of American occupation following the invasion to topple Saddam Hussain, this reduction in US activity in Iraq is a major step forward.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki is delighted with the withdrawal, and has declared a public holiday and named the day National Sovereignty Day, as part of his celebrations of this major step in restoring full sovereignty to the Iraqi government.

This successful pullout from the cities and towns is the first major landmark in a plan to withdraw all US forces from Iraq, and it shows that the plan for American forces to leave Iraq is on track.

US President Barack Obama has promised that all combat troops will be out of Iraq by the end of August 2010, with all American troops leaving by the end of 2011, which follows the plan contained in the Status of Forces Agreement that was hammered out last year between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government, and also finally ratified by the Iraqi parliament.

At present, there are still about 131,000 US troops in Iraq, including 12 combat brigades, and despite their withdrawal to the bases, the total is not expected to go below 128,000 until Iraq has held its general elections in January 2010.

These very high numbers are the legacy of the US 'surge', following the miserable six years of civil war triggered by the American failure to have any plans for reconstruction and nation-building after their 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The confused US role in Iraq was disastrous, and delayed any return to normality for years.