By early 2003, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction. This posed a threat to international security and gave rise to the possibility of Iraq employing these weapons against other countries. To prevent this, the U. S. military invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, with the mission “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism and to free the Iraqi people.” Almost nine years later, on Dec. 15, 2011, the American military formally ended its mission in Iraq, lauding itself for establishing democracy; unfortunately, this democracy turned out to be relatively unstable.

After being freed the country struggled to maintain stability and get back on track to rebuild. In the months that followed the pullout of U.S. troops, the political and sectarian factions fought for power and influence. This resulted in escalated levels of violence and crimes and threatened the stability that had allowed the withdrawal of the troops in the first place.

Only days after America’s departure, the Iraquiya Party, most representative of the Sunnis, began a boycott of the Parliament to protest what they thought were moves by the Shi’ite dominated government to reduce the power of the Sunnis. In January 2012, after weeks of crisis the Iraqiya Party agreed to reintegrate into the parliament, making it possible for the political leadership to hold a national summit meeting to discuss reconciliation.

In late December, the Sunni insurgent group ‘Al Qaeda in Iraq’ killed more than 63 people in a series of explosions throughout Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been accused of trying to drag the country back into a sectarian conflict by increasing the tension between the Sunnis and the Shi’ites.

In early January the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said America had left behind a “butting police state” with the country increasingly becoming ruled by force and fear. The attacks by insurgent groups increased as a reaction to rising instability. The group also said that the government had significantly restricted freedom of expression by intimidating, beating and detaining activists, demonstrators and journalists.

This turmoil has come unexpectedly to the Iraqis, who had hoped their leaders would embrace their newly gained independence and begin to tackle the nation’s myriad of problems, including the economic and religious divisions that received no attention during the presence of the American troops. As problems have continued to persist inside Iraq, many Iraqis believe that the United States has left the country more vulnerable than ever before.

Leaders among the Kurds and Sunnis would like some American troops to stay as a buffer against what they fear will be Shi’ite political dominance coupled in turn with the rising influence of neighboring Iran.

But, even though the military presence has been reduced, the CIA will continue to have a major presence in the country along with the security contractors working for the State Department.

Despite all this, the street life in Iraq is much more lively, the voter turnout much better and electricity more readily available than it was during the military presence. There is hope that Iraq will unite and recover, but it still very far from the “sovereign, stable and self-reliant” state that President Obama described at the time of the troops withdrawal.

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