Coming to a Milestone

Another milestone is coming up in a few days. June 30th is the date that US troops are no longer based in the cities. Beyond that date, our troops won't be in the lead, anywhere in Iraq, any more. Iraqi troops are to be in charge of all operations, with Americans as backup or as trainers if they're there at all.

There are already a lot of other changes ongoing. Back in October, I wrote an entry about going with our Blackwater security detail out to one of our project sites. Our convoy owned the road. Traffic was stopped for us, and if the road was blocked, we simply went around it, going the wrong way around a traffic circle or down sidewalks if needed. There was a logic to it: the more you're moving, especially in unexpected ways, the harder you are to hit. Now, however, we move with the traffic. We merge with the flow, and when the flow stops, we stop. That gets a bit uncomfortable sometimes, but so far there have been no troubles, at least none that I've experienced or even heard of second-hand.

I travel under the protection of a private security company (not Blackwater, or Xe, or whatever they're called today). But the same rules apply to US military vehicles, too. Actually, the Iraqi forces seem to hold military convoys to a stricter standard. So they've taken to moving largely at night, when there's little or no traffic, and people don't see them as easily. Trust me, it's hard to hide an MRAP, but night helps out a lot.

The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is really talking this up. He's calling it a "victory" and that it's a "repulsion of foreign oppressors". Inflammatory words to some, but we don't worry about it. He's a politician and needs to be seen as standing up to us. We need some strong politicians in charge of Iraq if we're ever going to get out of here.

There are some things we are concerned about, though. Iraqi citizens, by and large, don't fully trust their own police and security forces yet. Some of the forces are pretty good, and some aren't. But they'll be in charge come Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the insurgents are launching more attacks. We expected this. They used motorcycles packed with explosives, nails, and ball bearings to hit two market areas today, killing at least 20. There have been a number of high-profile bombings over the last week. They've stepped up their attacks on US patrols and convoys, too. And they've been launching more rockets into the International Zone, mostly with minimal or no effect. The troublemakers are remnants of Al Qaeda, various Sunni groups targeting Shiites, and various Shiite groups hitting back at Sunnis. So although there is an uptick in violence, it is nowhere near the level of a year and a half ago.

Back in the last days of December, we were all nervous about the transition that was to come on New Year's Day, when the Security Agreement took effect. We thought things might go to hell in a handbasket. They didn't. Now we're coming up on another milestone and are nervous about what it might entail. Let's hope that the result is similar to January's.