As Obama Talks Peace, Many Iraqis Are Unsure aka Same As It Ever Was

[eilen]

As Obama Talks Peace, Many Iraqis Are Unsure
By ANTHONY SHADID
______
Saud al-Saadi, an eloquent and informed teacher in Sadr City, was aware. But, he said, he had heard such pronouncements before, declarations of turning points in America’s experience here that seemed to hew to the logic of American politics. The American occupation was declared over before the 2004 presidential election. The two countries signed strategic agreements weeks before the Bush administration ended.

“But until now, to tell you the truth, we haven’t grasped our sovereignty,” Mr. Saadi said. “There are still American troops here, they still raid houses, we don’t have a government that makes its own decisions and the American ambassador still interferes.”

Mr. Saadi was neither angry nor disillusioned. And in his matter-of-fact appraisal, there was a hint of common ground between a teacher and a president. Mr. Obama did not trumpet democracy or victory. There was no reference to a mission accomplished. In a sober appraisal, he acknowledged that there would be more American sacrifice here.

Mr. Saadi was no less modest.

Interests, he called it. And the United States, he said, would try to secure its own.
“America is not a charity organization,” he said. “It’s not a humanitarian group.
There are words and there is reality, and actions don’t always match those words.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?th&emc=th

[zipplewrath]

1. In the end nothing has really changed

It's a process, not an event. August isn't all that different from July, and won't be all that different from September. That's not so much a criticism as a statement of reality. 50K troops that are doing the same thing they were last month is an accomplishment that could have been claimed months ago, except for the number. What the troops "won't be doing" in September is what they "haven't been doing" since about mid 2008. Of course, because they haven't been doing it, we have been able to actually pull the troops and equipment out (much of which has been sent to Afghanistan). Strangely, the question is why do we need to take 18 months to get the last 50K out? The answer is because they are still doing alot of things, and they sound alot like combat, and will continue for many more months.

The fuller quote from the article:

To an American audience, it might resonate that way. Less so to Iraqis. Unlike last year, Iraqi officials, mired in disputes often more personal than political, are not trumpeting the withdrawal as an assertion of an Iraqi authority. Neither Mr. Sweid nor Mr. Abdel-Jabbar knew about the August deadline. The same went for several others interviewed Tuesday.

“I don’t know exactly when the withdrawal is supposed to happen,” said Abdel-Hamid Majid, a 52-year-old engineer. “All I know is it’s not far away.”

Saud al-Saadi, an eloquent and informed teacher in Sadr City, was aware. But, he said, he had heard such pronouncements before, declarations of turning points in America’s experience here that seemed to hew to the logic of American politics. The American occupation was declared over before the 2004 presidential election. The two countries signed strategic agreements weeks before the Bush administration ended.

“But until now, to tell you the truth, we haven’t grasped our sovereignty,” Mr. Saadi said. “There are still American troops here, they still raid houses, we don’t have a government that makes its own decisions and the American ambassador still interferes.”

Mr. Saadi was neither angry nor disillusioned. And in his matter-of-fact appraisal, there was a hint of common ground between a teacher and a president. Mr. Obama did not trumpet democracy or victory. There was no reference to a mission accomplished. In a sober appraisal, he acknowledged that there would be more American sacrifice here.