The news media has been so focused on the death of Michael Jackson that people in the United States may not have noticed that US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities today.
The Iraqi people noticed though, and they have been celebrating the event with great joy. In an article from the Associated Press, one Iraqi man, Waleed al-Bahadili, is reported to have said "All of us are happy _ Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on this day....the Americans harmed and insulted us too much." One Iraqi woman said that she "...finally feel[s] liberated."
A flagrant violation of international law, the invasion and occupation of Iraq has lasted over six years. It has destabilized the entire middle-east; caused the needless deaths of thousands (some say millions) of innocent Iraqi civilians, and seriously damaged the reputation of the United States all over the world; it has cost the US taxpayers trillions of dollars and destroyed the United State's (and the world's) economy.
The pullout is mostly symbolic, as some US troops will remain in the cities to "...train and advise Iraqi forces...," while the vast majority of them will be conducting operations from their newly built permanant military bases, outside of the cities.
Coincidental to the pullout, Iraq's oil interests were placed on the world market, allowing international investors to buy shares of Iraqi oil.
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