BAGHDAD -- Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad on Wednesday to celebrate the withdrawal of U.S. troops after more than two decades of invasion and occupation, even as questions mounted over whether Washington’s grip on the country has truly loosened.
Thousands gathered along Palestine Street in the capital for a popular festival, while Iraqi security forces held military parades in Baghdad and Najaf to mark what the government declared National Sovereignty Day.
The U.S. military confirmed earlier in the day that the last troops had left Erbil Air Base, formally ending the so-called Operation Inherent Resolve mission after 12 years.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who presided over the handover ceremony, described the withdrawal as the beginning of “a new phase, one defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends”.
The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein, falsely claiming Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction. The war left the country’s infrastructure in tatters, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and displaced millions.
U.S.-led coalition forces withdrew in December 2011 but returned in 2014, using the seizure of large swathes of territory by the Daesh terrorist group as a pretext for a renewed military presence.
Yet they did not return when the macabre terrorists were at the gates of Baghdad; rather, they returned after the menace had been removed, thanks to Iran’s rush of military aid and advisors and the mobilization of Iraqis following the jihad fatwa of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali al-Sistani.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called the withdrawal “an orderly departure” and claimed the 12-year campaign “defeated ISIS (Daesh) as an organized military threat”.
U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Iraqi forces “now possess the capacity, leadership, and operational independence to unilaterally manage threats to their homeland”.
Daesh was not defeated by the Americans, but by Iraq’s anti-terror resistance groups, which have since become targets of repeated U.S. hostility and attacks. In fact, numerous allegations have emerged over the years of U.S. forces aiding Daesh terrorists or exploiting them for their own objectives.
The current de facto president of Syria, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, is a living example. Once on Washington’s terrorism list, he has since emerged as an American partner following his rise to power in the Arab country.
Despite the troop withdrawal, Washington retains significant leverage over Baghdad. The United States maintains its sprawling embassy in Iraq — the largest in the world — and continues to hold Iraqi oil revenues at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, releasing cash shipments according to its own calculations.
Those funds — billions of dollars annually from Iraqi oil sales — are flown into Baghdad to pay the country’s six million civil servants and run the state. Washington has repeatedly used this financial lifeline as a weapon, suspending dollar shipments to pressure Iraqi leaders. In April, the U.S. blocked a cargo plane carrying nearly $500 million in banknotes and froze some security cooperation programs.
The financial stranglehold has been used to shape Iraqi politics directly. When former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki emerged as a frontrunner for the premiership earlier this year, the Trump administration threatened to withdraw all support if he returned to power, citing his perceived closeness to Iran.
Under intense American pressure, al-Maliki withdrew his candidacy, clearing the path for Ali al-Zaidi — a businessman and banker with no prior government experience — who was widely seen as more amenable to Washington’s demands.
The intervention sparked anger among Iraqi political groups and the public, who rallied in Baghdad against what they called blatant interference in their country’s internal affairs.
“We came here not for Mr. Nouri al-Maliki, nor for any individual,” one demonstrator said. “Any country has the right to interfere in Iraq’s affairs. The Iraqi people have made their decision”.
As U.S. troops depart, Iraq’s ability to defend its own airspace remains severely limited. The country’s F-16 fighter fleet — purchased from the United States — has been rendered virtually non-operational due to Washington’s refusal to provide maintenance services and spare parts.
Foreign technical teams responsible for servicing the aircraft withdrew during the recent Israeli-U.S. war on Iran, leaving the planes grounded.
The Iraqi resistance group Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq welcomed the U.S. withdrawal but warned that Baghdad must now acquire sophisticated air defense systems to protect its airspace, and called for the departure of Turkish forces from positions in the Kurdish region.
The Iraqi Islamic Resistance declared on Wednesday that it is not bound by any timetables or agreements announced by governmental or political parties regarding foreign military presence, affirming its commitment to its weapons to protect the country’s sovereignty.
“Our weapons will remain a sacred trust in our hands,” resistance spokesman Jaafar al-Husseini said during the celebration in Baghdad.
Kata’ib Hezbollah expressed serious doubts about the completeness of the U.S. withdrawal, saying its intelligence units had documented American reconnaissance and fighter aircraft still operating in Iraqi skies.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the prominent Shiite cleric, declared Iraq “independent” following the end of the occupation, while calling for the consolidation of state authority and major political and security reforms.
For many Iraqis, the celebrations on Palestine Street reflected genuine relief at the end of a visible foreign military occupation that had defined their country for a generation. But as the parades concluded and the crowds dispersed, the deeper structures of American influence — financial, political, and military — remained firmly in place.