Next month, the U.S. will officially end combat operations in the country it invaded more than seven years ago. But it will still maintain a sizeable force of 50,000. Those remaining will engage in stability operations which, essentially, aren’t any different from what many soldiers and Special Operations personnel are doing now: hunting down and killing insurgents.

 

“In practical terms, nothing will change,” Major General Stephen Lanza told The New York Times. “We are already doing stability operations.”

 

By the end of 2011, the U.S. is supposed to withdraw all remaining troops from Iraq. But don’t be surprised if American soldiers are still there come 2012, as Washington is expected to begin negotiating a new agreement with the Iraqi leadership, once a new coalition government is formed.  

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

War in Iraq Defies U.S. Timetable for End of Combat (by Tim Arango, New York Times)

Withdrawing Combat Troops from Iraq…Kind of, Sort of, Maybe (by Aaron Wallechinsky, AllGov)