Unnerved by bombings that have killed hundreds this summer, many Iraqis are losing faith in their own security forces and fear the Americans are leaving too quickly. The misgivings about the US pullback from the cities, and even about the December 31, 2011, deadline for a full withdrawal, come at a time when a senior US officer has suggested the Americans declare victory and leave even sooner.
Iraqis, including military commanders, believe their security forces aren't ready to act alone.
The chairman of parliament's security committee, Abbas al-Bayati, said, ''We do not want a hasty withdrawal. The Americans have promised a responsible withdrawal in coordination with the Iraqi Government and they should live up to their commitments.''
A security pact by the US and Iraqi Governments lays out the timetable, but this northern summer's attacks mainly targeting Shi'ites and minority groups in northern Iraq and Baghdad have shaken public confidence.
At least 520 Iraqis have been killed, 378 of them in bombings, since June 30, the date the withdrawal from the cities was completed.
While past attacks have led to sectarian retaliation, Iraqis now focus their anger on government forces and political stagnation. The Shi'ite-led Government is criticised for failing to use its gains against insurgents to promote reconciliation with Sunnis.
Still, the Pentagon found in a recent report to Congress that more than 80 per cent of Iraqis surveyed in April said they had confidence Iraq's army and police could protect them, compared with just 27 per cent for American forces. This is the contradiction Iraqis face: they badly want their country back but remain heavily dependent on the US military.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears eager to see the Americans leave and has urged Iraqis to hold steady against continued violence, calling the US withdrawal from cities a great victory and portraying himself as the leader who defeated terrorism and ended the American occupation.
Despite the unrelenting bombings, the Government has announced that it plans to remove by mid-September most of the concrete blast walls that have turned Baghdad into a prison-like maze as part of its campaign to project normalcy ahead of national elections.
US President Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to end the war and ordered all US combat forces to leave by the end of August 2010. He said 35,000 to 50,000 troops would remain to train Iraqis.
In a memo leaked last month, an American adviser to the Iraqi military command, Colonel Timothy Reese, argued that US troops should leave by next summer. He said they had done all they could. AP
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