US closes in Iraq a war unpopular, expensive and more than 100,000 deaths

United States ends with his departure from Iraq a war unpopular, expensive and has caused more than 100,000 deaths in almost nine years, while continuing fear of withdrawal arising to a vacuum of power, the resurgence of violence or greater influence of Iran in the region.

Launched in March 2003 by then President George w. Bush with the argument, that ended up proving false, that the Government of Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and ties to the terrorist Al-Qaeda, the war network extremists will be concluded on 31 December is complete when the departure of the last 4,000 troops and the closure of two databases.

At the height of the conflict, in 2007, United States.UU. He eventually rose to Iraq more than 500 bases and 150,000 military.

At the inability to prove the allegations against Hussein, the Bush Government reformulated its strategy and began to sell the war as necessary to "bring democracy to the Middle East", as u000aremembers the newspaper The New York Times.

However, in its almost nine year war has never been seen by the majority of Americans. Three out of four supported the withdrawal, according to polls recent.

In addition to the high economic cost to us.UU., encryption in nearly 800 billion dollars, in the conflict have died more than 100,000 Iraqis, many of them civilians.

On the American side had died 4.487 soldiers until last Friday and other 32.226 were injured, according to statistics from the Pentagon.

The agreement signed between the authorities of the United States.UU. and on the withdrawal Iraq establishes that a few hundred military and civilian Pentagon will continue to work associated with the Embassy in Baghdad beyond 31 December to train and train the armed forces local.

Remains also open the door to negotiate the next year a formula so that you contributors u000amilitary of the United States.UU. return to the Arab country to collaborate with their Iraqi counterparts in different tasks.

Some analysts see gaps in the ability of Iraq to defend its sovereign territory and protect the rigs in the Persian Gulf.

In addition, the fear to resurgence violence, encouraged by military reports that point remains that the troops of the United States.UU. still suffered attacks almost every day, and Iran, one of the eternal enemies of Washington, to try to increase its influence among the population majority Shia.

Other experts such as Daniel Serwer, of the Institute for Middle East, however believe that the war ends "responsibly" and that the Iraqis are "fully capable" of handling internal security, more if it takes into account that EE.UU. It will continue to work with them in this matter.

The President of the United States.UU., Barack Obama, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki promised on Monday after meeting u000ain Washington maintain cooperation between their countries and the beginning of "a new chapter" in the relationship

"Our goal is a sovereign Iraq to guard its borders, protect its airspace and protect its people," he stressed Obama.

In parallel, the White House announced that it has proposed to Congress the sale of 18 fighter aircraft F-16 to Iraq, in addition to the 18 who had already agreed to sell to the Arab country at the beginning of this year.

Obama based much of his election campaign in its commitment to the removal of Iraq in 2008 and now surely will build on the promise fulfilled in the race for re-election in 2012.

But beyond a political issue, the output of Iraq is to Obama also strategic, because it will allow "move resources and attention to other priorities: Asia, the fight against terrorism and the reconstruction of the American economy", as the study group National Security u000aNetwork.

"For too many years United States has been trapped in the alleys of Iraq", reflects Brian Katulis from the Center for American Progress.

So "has not paid sufficient attention to East Asia and the Pacific, where much of the history of the twenty-first century is writing", adds Richard Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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