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The withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities marks a historic turning point, with the Iraqis seeing themselves once again as being in control of their own country. But the exaggerated self-confidence of their leaders could come at a high cost to Iraqi citizens. The oil-rich nation, though full of potential, remains extremely vulnerable.

If there is one man in Iraq whose face betrays the full spectrum of triumphs, failures and tragic events of the last six years, then it is the deeply exhausted and sometimes excessively cheerful neurologist Mowaffak al-Rubaie.

Al-Rubaie, like most of those who currently rule Iraq, returned to the country in 2003 in the wake of US tanks and troops, after spending decades in exile. He was appointed Baghdad's national...