BAGHDAD AND ISTANBUL, TURKEY — President Obama made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday, declaring it time for U.S. troops to start leaving and Iraqis to take complete charge of their country. Events illustrated just how difficult that may yet prove to be.
The number of violent incidents in Baghdad has been increasing: Six car bombs exploded in the capital the day before Obama's visit, killing 36 people. Another detonated Tuesday before he arrived, killing nine more. The attacks all targeted Shiite Muslim neighborhoods, hinting at rising sectarian tensions.
Still, on his first visit to Iraq since becoming president, Obama focused on the positive.
"We should not be distracted, because we have made enormous progress working alongside the Iraqi government over the last few months," he said. He maintained that overall violence was down and that there had been real movement on political issues.
Most U.S. forces are to withdraw from their bases in Iraqi cities this summer. Obama has pushed for all U.S. combat brigades to leave by August 2010. His plan would "ultimately result in the removal of all U.S. troops by 2011," he said Tuesday.
Addressing hundreds of cheering U.S. soldiers just days before the anniversary of the 2003 fall of Baghdad and ouster of Saddam Hussein, Obama said, "It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis.
"They need to take responsibility for their country," he told troops who greeted him at Al Faw Palace, a former Hussein residence in the Baghdad airport complex.
Obama campaigned for office on a pledge to end the war in Iraq, which has cost the lives of 4,266 U.S. military personnel and many thousands of Iraqis. Instead, he is seeking to focus U.S. attention on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama has banked on a reduction in U.S. forces in Iraq as he seeks to add 21,000 troops in Afghanistan.
But the Iraq mission is looking more complicated. Some Iraqi politicians fear that an era of relative peace has been squandered and that more violence is likely.
A buildup of U.S. troops in 2007 was credited with helping end civil war. The number of troops has dropped to 135,000 from more than 160,000 two years ago. In the last month, the number of violent incidents in Baghdad has grown, raising questions about whether the gains in stability will last.
