After almost nine years in Iraq, the United States military has left. Not because it wants to, but because it has to. All Iraqi political groups – friends and foes – were united in demanding troop departure by the end of 2011.
The Obama administration is not totally happy with this turn of events, since it wanted to keep 20,000 soldiers in the country to make sure its interests were not undermined. But it had to accept the Iraqi decision, since it promised American citizens it would withdraw from Iraq. Barack Obama has a tough re-election battle next year and he doesn’t want Iraq to deprive him of a second term that he seeks in order to leave some imprint on American politics, apart from being the first black U.S. president.
Do Iraqis still need the Americans? Certainly.
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