BAGHDAD The U.S. marks on Wednesday the transition to the final phase of the Iraq war, shifting the focus of the remaining 50,000 American troops from combat operations to preparing Iraqi security forces to protect the country on their own.
President Barack Obama set the tone for changing the role without fanfare, making clear in a major speech on Iraq Tuesday that this was no victory celebration. A six-month stalemate over forming a new Iraqi government has raised concerns about the countrys stability and questions over whether the leadership can cope with a diminished but still dangerous insurgency.
Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will preside over a military change-of-command ceremony in Baghdad later Wednesday that will signal the formal end of American combat operations in Iraq, 7 1/2 years after the March 2003 invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Gates, visiting American troops in the Iraqi city of Ramadi Wednesday, said history will judge whether the fight was worth it for the United States.
"The problem with this war, I think, for many Americans, is that the premise on which we justified going to war turned out not to be valid," he said. "Even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States, itll always be clouded by how it began."
Obama declared an end to combat in an Oval Office speech Tuesday night and praised American forces for their work. He acknowledged the ambiguous nature of the war in which American forces quickly ousted Saddam but were never able to fully control the Sunni Muslim insurgency that even now threatens to re-ignite.
Still, he said the time had come to close this divisive chapter in U.S. history.
"We have met our responsibility," Obama said. "Now it is time to turn the page."
Avoiding any hint of claiming victory in a war he once called a major mistake, the president recognized the sacrifices of Americas military. More than 4,400 American troops and an estimated 100,000 Iraqis were killed and it cost billions of dollars.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday the end of combat operations in Iraq marked a return to sovereignty and independence and he tried to reassure his people that their own security forces can defend them.
At a ceremony at the opulent al-Faw palace that was a former hunting lodge for Saddam, Gen. Ray Odierno will hand over power to Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, who most recently served as commander of troop operations in Iraq from 2008-09.
Iraqi forces on Wednesday appeared to be on heightened alert, spread out at checkpoints across the city intended to reassure the populace and ward off insurgent attacks.
Just under 50,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq � down from a peak of about 170,000 at the height in 2007. Those forces will not be able to go on combat missions unless requested and accompanied by Iraqi forces. All American forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by the beginning of 2012 under a security agreement between Iraq and the U.S.
The last combat brigade left Iraq earlier this month and the remaining units are being called advise and assist brigades by the U.S. military.
But drawing a line between what is and is not combat may not be easy. All American forces carry weapons, have the ability to protect themselves and their bases and still come under attack from insurgents near daily.
Sgt. Brandon E. Maggart, 24, of Kirksville, Mo. Was killed near the southern city of Basra on Aug. 22 � a few days after the last combat brigade rolled across the border into Kuwait.
Iraq is also far from the stable democracy once depicted by the former Bush administration and hoped for by Obama when he laid out his timeline for withdrawing American troops shortly after he took office in 2009.
Half a year has passed since Iraqs March 7 elections which failed to produce a clear winner, and the countrys political leaders have so far failed to form a new government.
While the administration claims it expected that kind of delay, Obamas words Tuesday night voiced an underlying anxiety that Iraq still could fall backward into the kind of sectarian violence that ravaged the country in 2006 and 2007.
"Tonight, I encourage Iraqs leaders to move forward with a sense of urgency," Obama said, "to form an inclusive government that is just, representative and accountable to the Iraqi people."
Anthony Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessment in the Pentagon, warned in a new report that Iraq is at a critical time and its fate rests on a successful transition of power.
"The withdrawal is far from over, the Iraq War is not over, it is not won, and any form of stable end state in Iraq is probably impossible before 2020," Cordesman warned.
That thought was echoed by Defense Secretary Gates Tuesday, who warned that political paralysis and continued sectarian violence remain problems in Iraq.
"I am not saying all is, or necessarily will be, well in Iraq," said Gates during a speech in Wisconsin before heading to Iraq for the change of command ceremony. "This is not a time for premature victory parades or self-congratulation, even as we reflect with pride on what our troops and their Iraqi partners have accomplished."
But many Iraqis, worn down by years of war and jaded by repeated assurances that life will get better, say they are worried that violence will spike as American troops go home.
"I hope that the American troops will leave Iraq, but not for the time being," said Baghdad resident Fadhil Hashim early Wednesday.
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