Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

YESTERDAY’S WITHDRAWAL of United States soldiers from Iraqi towns and cities was more symbolic than real, given that they will continue to train the Iraqi army and may be called back into urban military action if security deteriorates. Yet the timely implementation of the status of forces agreement reached between the outgoing Bush administration and prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shia-dominated government represents definite progress towards the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty. That it was also timed to coincide with the first auction of Iraqi oil fields to international companies is also symbolic, representing the potential opening up of its economy to oil majors which will have to respect comparatively tight conditions.

A political rhythm accompanies the security one. Iraqis are due to vote in national parliamentary elections next January, having elected provincial councils earlier this year. That campaign was relatively free of the crippling sectarian conflicts and violence many expected. This allowed more room for competition on how to provide better roads, schools, health and other services rather than on the brutal existential questions that dominated the violent years following the invasion led by the United States in 2003. The hope is that the experience can now be repeated at national level, thereby putting more flesh on Mr al-Maliki’s claim, reiterated yesterday, that this dual security and political process represents a real return of Iraqi sovereignty.