Iraqis rejoice as U.S. troops leave Baghdad

[undeterred]

Source: Reuters

By Tim Cocks and Muhanad Mohammed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops pulled out of Baghdad on Monday, triggering jubilation among Iraqis hopeful that foreign military occupation is ending six years after the invasion to depose Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi soldiers paraded through the streets in their American-made vehicles draped with Iraqi flags and flowers, chanting, dancing and calling the pullout a "victory." One drove a motorcycle with party streamers on it; another, a Humvee with a garland of plastic roses on the grill.

U.S. combat troops must pull out of Iraq's urban centers by midnight on Tuesday under a bilateral security pact that also requires all troops to leave the country by 2012. All had left the capital by Monday afternoon, Major-General in Staff, Abboud Qanbar, head of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, told Reuters.

Addressing military leaders in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said: "Our sovereignty has started and ... we should move forward to build a modern state and enjoy security which has been achieved."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55S3WG20090629

---

Here's to Iraqi sovereignty. :toast:

[sisters6]

1. Best of luck to the Iraqi people. Now--KEEP the US troops OUT.

[AlphaCentauri]

2. Do they know where are we going to set the missile defense system?

maybe in the green zone?, oil companies will need protection.

[bertman]

3. Poor gullible Iraqis. First they thought we were there to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

Then they bought the "we're bringing democracy" schtick. Then they fell for the we're-here-to-stabilize-the-country-until-the-government-can-run-the-country. Then they fell for the "Splurge", I mean Surge.

I guess they don't realize that we'll have a 150,000 strong contingent of armed military and para-military types vacationing in those new bases just in case we need a "ready reaction force" to FREE the Iraqis once again.

Gawd bless Amerka.

[Democracyinkind]

7. Gotta love empire, don't ya? But Reuters is hardly the Iraqi people - they smelled BS from day 1

[bertman]

9. Yeah, Democracyinkind, it was all b.s. Also, I forgot my sarcasm thingie.

[timeforpeace]

4. The pullout is from the urban centers but not the country of Iraq?

[Democracyinkind]

8. Read the article! It's part of the pull out strategy ....

Step by Step... You never pull out in 1 day.

BTW - George Carlin made the observation that it isn't appropriate to talk about military affairs using terms a pubescent boy would use to describe sexual details. We should find another term than "pulling out".

[jayfish]

5. I Wonder If We'll See This Celebration Endlessly Looped By Our Media...

the way we did when the statue of Saddam was brought down. I have a feeling we won't see it at all.

Jay

[shadowknows69]

14. Oh we will, it will just be spun as "celebrating the US victory over terraists"

[monmouth]

6. Well they didn't greet us with flowers on the streets, but are at least displaying their

garland of plastic roses on the grill for our departure. Funny how that worked out....LOL.

[shadowknows69]

10. SO we just left the green zone empty and abandoned that city sized embassy?

We're not out of Baghdad.

[National Steel 27]

12. It's just the military

You can bet your ass there are plenty of Americans left in Baghdad.

[shadowknows69]

13. Some of the military has just been re-categorized so we can say they aren't there anymore

Smoke and mirrors.

[readmoreoften]

11. Did they all move to that 80 football-field long US embassy Scahill was writing about?

Oh yeah, we're leaving all right.
(Well I guess you've got to free up some troops for Afghanistan and Pakistan.)

[ohio2007]

15. "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"..and if we catch them in their full retreat

"My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all"




next months freedom fighter talking points to hit the net









"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

"I blame Al-Jazeera - they are marketing for the Americans!"

"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."

"They're coming to surrender or be burned in their tanks."



As of nightfall on the 29th of June ;



"We have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and their shovels - We have driven them back."

"In a few days, you will all witness something that can only be considered very beautiful against the Coalition forces. That, I assure you."



"because we will behead you all"




http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/



Turning it over to F-Troop

[Cha]

16. You know it 's a good thing..cheney was

yapping about it being bad because "the soldiers who died would have been a waste".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8501615

[subcomhd]

17. Didn't you get the memo?

Cheney and Obama are no different.

[Cha]

18. They're trying like crazy to

promote that for whatEVER agenda but anyone can see they're talkin' outta their ass.

[subcomhd]

19. When someone says they can't tell the difference between Bush

and Obama, they might as well just replace the word Bush with "shit" and Obama with "Shine-ola." Because that's the message they are sending.

[Cha]

20. Well, there ya

go!

[llmart]

21. What an absolute waste of money and lives......

that Bush/Cheney fiasco was. We should all be sickened by the whole affair. It accomplished absolutely nothing but putting the US in massive debt and killing innocent people.

[jazzjunkysue]

22. It would be a happy moment if we hadn't desecrated their entire country

and infrastructure.

[Vidar]

23. And well they should.

[SpartanDem]

24. A very good first step in us getting of out this mess.nt