U.S. Withdraws From Iraq's Major Cities, Meeting June 30 Deadline
Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki declares the event a national holiday.
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2009 -- Fireworks lit up the night sky over Baghdad tonight as Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from the country's cities, the first milestone in a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that calls for the departure of all U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
Under the agreement, Iraqi forces were to assume formal control of security in Baghdad and Iraq's major cities as U.S. combat troops withdrew to areas outside the cities by June 30.
The date has long been anticipated by Iraqis and Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki declared Tuesday a public holiday: National Sovereignty Day.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, told "Fox News Sunday" this weekend that the United States had already completed the withdrawal before the deadline.
"We have already moved out of the cities," Odierno said. "We've been slowly doing it over the last eight months. And the final units have moved out of the cities over the last several weeks.
"It is time for them to take responsibility inside the cities," Odierno continued. "It's time for this partnership to have an Iraqi lead, it's time for this partnership to have the Iraqis out in front."
Under the agreement, some U.S. troops will remain in Iraq's cities continuing to serve on as embedded trainers with Iraqi army and police units, and additional forces will continue to provide logistical assistance to Iraq's troops in the cities.
However, the bulk of U.S. troops will continue to operate in Iraq's rural areas and the belts surrounding urban areas in joint patrols with Iraqi security forces, much as they have since the security framework was put in place early this year.
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