During the second half of 2007, one of my most common topics of discussion was the over the issue of a residual American military presence in Iraq, even post-withdrawal and even under a Democratic trifecta. Now, unless I am reading it wrong, or the news reports on the subject are wrong, the new security agreement between Iraq and the United States will result in no residual American military presence in the country after December 31, 2011:
Iraq's cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement that calls for a full withdrawal of American forces from the country by the end of 2011. The cabinet's decision brings a final date for the departure of American troops a significant step closer after more than five and a half years of war.
The agreement also appears to be based on fixed date timetables, rather than the non-timetable "conditions on the ground" line pushed by conservatives. Perhaps even better, the deal was negotiated by the Bush administration, meaning that there won't be any "stabbed in the back" narrative from conservatives. Or, at least, it will mean that narrative will be even dumber than the one they spun post-Vietnam (and that's really saying something).
These three aspects of the deal mean an end to the war in Iraq is, finally, coming. While it will unfortunately take three years for the war to completely end, this is still good news. It should be said that the political victories on a fixed timetable and no residual forces only happened because they were demanded by Iraqis, rather than because of progressive American pressure. Back in the primaries, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were saying they would have residual troops in Iraq after 2012. So, maybe it wasn't directly our fault, but I'm just happy that it seems to have finally happened. It took Iraqis to finally end the war we started.
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