BAGHDAD - The U.S. military on Wednesday marked the end of its combat mission in Iraq amid a series of conflicting messages that underscored the mixed feelings both Americans and Iraqis have toward a 7 1/2-year effort that cost tens of thousands of lives but left the political outcome undecided.
"The problem with this war for, I think, many Americans is that the premise on which we justified going to war proved not to be valid, that is Saddam [Hussein] having weapons of mass destruction," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters as he hopped from one stripped-down U.S. military base to another Wednesday greeting U.S. troops.
"So when you start from that standpoint, then figuring out in retrospect how you deal with the war -- even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States -- it will always be clouded by how it began."
Differing Iraqi views
Iraqis, too, expressed ambivalence about the U.S. declaration that combat operations now would be giving way to "partnering efforts" led by Iraqis and would conclude with the complete withdrawal of the remaining 50,000 U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
"I am torn," said Widad Hameed, a retired high school teacher. "I am strongly opposed to the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi sovereign soil -- and therefore hope to see them leave as quickly as possible. This is on principle.
"But on the other hand, I am afraid of what might happen after they leave. I have no great faith in the abilities of the [Iraqi security forces] and feel that the chaos in our political situation will be reflected upon the security scene as the politicians slug it out and violence will rise and the people will pay."
Other Iraqis said they were thrilled that the end of the U.S. occupation appeared closer. "The departure of the occupation forces will mark the beginning of our path toward stability, and not the other way around," said Falah Hasen Shenshel, a follower of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia often clashed with U.S. troops in the early years of the war.
