Iraqis aren't ready to take responsibility

Even though US President Barack Obama has promised his people that American troops would cease "combat operations" in Iraq on August 31, "stability operations" will continue. The end of the month will bring no more than a major re-branding of the US Army's business. This may help Obama at home, but it will not put a stop to the deluge of American body bags that continue to be flown back to the US.

"In practical terms, nothing will change," said General Stephen Lanza, the top American military spokesman in Iraq, when speaking to the New York Times. The hunting and killing of insurgents, the joint raids with Iraqi security forces, and the manning of check points that search for bombers will continue — as it has for some years. The only difference is that these missions will be described as "stability operations", rather than "combat".

The grim fact is that the Iraqi Army is not yet ready to enforce security in Iraq, and the Americans have an important role which they cannot shirk. The head of the Iraqi army, General Babakir Zebari, caused a huge stir when he said this week that his troops will not be fully trained until 2020 and will not be able to cope with US troop withdrawal. He may be exaggerating for his own purposes, but no one denies that he has a point.

If the Americans simply walked out, they would leave Iraq vulnerable to a new round of civil war that the Iraqi Army would be unlikely to halt. In the worst-case scenario, its soldiers would desert to join various sectarian and tribal militias. The fragility of Iraq's security is being rammed home every day as bombs go off, leaving tens of people dead. The failure of parliament to agree on a new government, five months after the March general elections, has created a political vacuum in which radical groups see an opportunity.