www.roanoke.com

Today, this the 30th of June, men, women and children across Iraq celebrate National Sovereignty Day.  Iraqis hold this day on the same level that Americans revere July 4th.

The Iraqi people gathered and celebrated with music, dancing and food, as this day has been years in the making.  Every Iraqi has felt the effects of six years of war, whether they have lost a family member to violence or simply grown accustom to hearing gunshots and explosions.

At the close of 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi governments were hard at work sorting out the details behind the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which outlined the plan for the U.S. military to transfer authority to the Iraqi Army.  At the beginning of this year, all combat patrols required involvement with the Iraqi Army, making them joint patrols.  The idea behind these joint patrols was to ensure the Iraqi Army’s ability to conduct the missions that the U.S. military conducted.

Over the last several months, U.S. forces have been moving out the cities of Iraq and handing more and more responsibility to be solely that of the Iraqi Army.  All of the measures that the U.S. military has taken for months have led up to today, Iraq’s National Sovereignty Day.

From today forward, U.S. forces will not only remain out of the cities during daylight hours, they will not conduct any missions unless the Iraqi Army specifically requests the U.S. military’s participation.

The bigger picture illustrates why Americans ought to be celebrating along with the Iraqis.  The long-term goal is for Iraqi forces to be self-sufficient and for U.S. forces to redeploy back to the States.  Under the SOFA, Iraqi forces gained responsibility incrementally, allowing the U.S. forces to disengage. 

Now, in the period after June 30th, U.S. forces will be available to support the still building Iraqi Army, if necessary.  Otherwise, this might be seen as a test run for when U.S. forces actually leave.  Both Iraqis and Americans can celebrate to that.

Meanwhile, violence will spike in the short term, while insurgents test the new status of the Iraqi forces.