Mid East | UnFox News - Not a Propaganda Arm of the Republican Party

FBI notes: Saddam Hussein sought familiar refuge (AP)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:13:45 -0500

AP - After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein stayed in Baghdad until he saw "the city was about to fall." Months later, he was caught hiding at the same farm where he had fled in 1959 after taking part in an attempt to kill the country's prime minister.

FBI notes: Saddam Hussein sought familiar refuge (AP)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:44:04 -0500

Biden Visits Iraq, Underscoring Fragile Sovereignty

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:12:08 -0500

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. began a two-day mission that he said was intended to “reestablish contact” with Iraqi leaders.

US vice president in Iraq (AP)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:21:48 -0500

AP - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on Thursday to visit U.S. soldiers, just two days after all American combat troops withdrew from Baghdad and all of Iraq's cities and towns.

Iraqi top Shiite clerics are silent on Iran (AP)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:05:55 -0500

AP - There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds.

Find God, win a trip to Mecca (or Tibet)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:11:06 -0500

Turkish gameshow enlists imam, Greek Orthodox priest, rabbi and monk to try to convert atheists, with pilgrimage as reward

It sounds like the beginning of a joke: what do you get when you put a Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and 10 atheists in the same room?

Viewers of Turkish television will soon get the punchline when a new gameshow begins that offers a prize arguably greater than that offered by Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit their godless convictions against the possibilities of a new relationship with the almighty on Penitents Compete (Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor in Turkish), to be broadcast by the Kanal T station. Four spiritual guides from the different religions will seek to convert at least one of the 10 atheists in each programme to their faith.

Those persuaded will be rewarded with a pilgrimage to the spiritual home of their newly chosen creed – Mecca for Muslims, Jerusalem for Christians and Jews, and Tibet for Buddhists.

The programme's makers say they want to promote religious belief while educating Turkey's overwhelmingly Muslim population about other faiths.

"The project aims to turn disbelievers on to God," the station's deputy director, Ahmet Ozdemir, told the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review.

That mission is attested to in the programme's advertising slogans, which include "We give you the biggest prize ever: we represent the belief in God" and "You will find serenity in this competition".

Only true non-believers need apply. An eight-strong commission of theologians will assess the atheist credentials of would-be contestants before deciding who should take part.

Converts will be monitored to ensure their religious transformation is genuine and not simply a ruse to gain a free foreign trip. "They can't see this trip as a getaway, but as a religious experience," Ozdemir said.

The programme, which is scheduled to air in September, has been criticised by commentators and religious figures for trivialising God and faith.

Mustafa Cagrici, provincial head of the state-run religious affairs directorate for Istanbul, said: "I don't find it right to discuss religion in such environments."

Others may see the show as fuelling a widespread intolerance of atheism in Turkey, where a large majority profess a deep religious belief despite the state's officially secular character.

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Biden Arrives in Iraq as Violence Flares Again

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:31:11 -0500

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived for meetings with Iraqi leaders as bombings again hit Baghdad two days after the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Thursday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 42 Wounded

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:14:35 -0500

Updated at 5:32 p.m. EDT, July, 2, 2009 At least seven Iraqis were killed and 42 more were wounded as Iraqis continued to celebrate National Sovereignty Day. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise visit. Meanwhile, Iraq asked Iran and Kuwait for help in locating personnel missing or captured in wars with those two countries. Also, Iraq signed a cooperation agreement with France.

Deadly blast targets Iraqi troops

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:50:29 -0500

Two bomb blasts hit Baghdad in capital's first attacks since US troops pulled out.

Israel holds activists who tried to reach Gaza by boat

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:40:37 -0500

Eight British and Irish citizens among those held after trying to import aid supplies

Israeli authorities are holding 19 international activists who tried to travel to the Gaza Strip by boat with aid supplies.

Their boat was intercepted by the Israeli navy within miles of the Gaza shore on Tuesday afternoon. Israeli troops boarded the Greek-flagged ship, detained those on board and towed it to port in Ashdod, southern Israel.

Of the 21 originally detained, two have been freed but the rest are still being held, including eight British and Irish citizens. All are in prison at the Israeli city of Ramla except for five activists from Bahrain, who are being detained at Ben Gurion airport and are likely to be deported.

Organisers say they believe the ship was stopped in international waters off Gaza even though they had notified the Israeli authorities of their intent to travel. The Israeli navy mounts regular patrols and operations, usually against Palestinian fishermen, that reach within a few miles of the Gaza shoreline.

The ship, named the Spirit of Humanity, was attempting to skirt Israel's two-year economic blockade of Gaza under which there is a ban on all exports and imports, except some humanitarian supplies. The ship sailed from Larnaca, in southern Cyprus, on Monday morning with medical supplies in sealed boxes, together with crayons, books and children's toys as well as 300 bags of cement. Under the blockade no construction materials have been allowed into Gaza, despite the fact that thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged during Israel's three-week war in January.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the boat was intercepted because it was "illegally attempting to enter the Gaza Strip". It said the boat was not allowed to enter Gazan coastal waters "because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade".

Among those detained is Mairead Maguire, an Irish Nobel peace prize laureate, and Cynthia McKinney, a former US Congresswoman, as well as activists, charity workers and journalists.

In a message passed to organisers from her jail cell yesterday, McKinney said the Israeli navy had dismantled their navigation equipment and confiscated the ship. "All of us on board were then taken off the ship and into custody, and brought into Israel and imprisoned. Immigration officials in Israel said they did not want to keep us, but we remain imprisoned," she said.

Adnan Mormech, one of the Britons being held, sent out a message from the same jail saying: "Conditions at the prison are appalling, 14-20 to a cell measuring 7m by 7m."

It was the eighth attempt to travel by boat from Cyprus to Gaza since the project began last year. Twice before their boats had been stopped by the Israeli navy.

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Why Big Oil Declined Iraq's Riches (Time.com)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:35:00 -0500

Time.com - Baghdad's first auction for the rights to develop its massive energy reserves is a flop, as economic and political factors restrain foreign investors

A game changer for Israel

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:51:41 -0500

Israel is finding a resolve it has not recently encountered in a US administration as the White House refuses to play by the old rules, writes Chris McGreal

Barack Obama chose his battleground carefully.

Americans may seem to instinctively support what they regard as plucky little Israel besieged by terrorism, and Congress may still be the Jewish state's best political shield. But even in the US there are not many who are prepared to publicly defend the ever-expanding Jewish colonies annexing chunks of the West Bank and sealing off East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied territories as Israel seeks to put its control of the city beyond negotiation.

So when Obama laid down a marker to Binyamin Netanyahu in demanding a complete end to settlement construction at a testy meeting in Washington last month, he put the Israeli prime minister on the spot.

Israel has endorsed the 2003 US "road map" to peace with its requirement for a total freeze on settlement expansion.

But successive governments in Jerusalem are used to American administrations giving a nod and a wink to the endless rise of the uniform white concrete settler homes with red roofs on the West Bank that are instantly distinguishable from ramshackle construction of Palestinian towns and villages.

Bill Clinton and George Bush paid lip service to ending settlement construction but tacitly agreed to the caveats that allow it to go on, including what the Israelis call "natural growth" (the construction of homes for the offspring of Jewish settlers who are deemed to have the right to live up the road from their parents while no such privilege is afforded to Arabs in Jerusalem who are forced out by a housing shortage in Palestinian areas).

When they wanted to look tough on the Israelis, US administrations extracted promises that they would dismantle the 120 or more "outposts", the rudimentary hilltop settlements that are illegal even under Israeli law.

But they rarely came down and the military was frequently complicit in helping to get them up in the first place.

The outposts were all too often agents of expansion, leapfrogging across the hilltops to claim land in the name of the Jewish state or conjoining with existing settlements and so allowing the Israeli military to seize the land in between in the name of security.

But now Israel confronts a president who may actually mean what he says amid a quiet recognition among some in Washington that the principal obstacle to a two-state solution is not Hamas or terrorism or Palestinian hostility but the long-established Israeli strategy of loudly declaring an undying commitment to peace while seeks to secure as much territory as possible and limit the sovereignty of a Palestinian state.

Obama has described the conflict as "constant sore" that "infect(s) all of our foreign policy". His officials have said that he intends to be "forceful" in pressing the parties toward a solution. The implication is that Israel will not be allowed to use obstructionism as a de facto veto, a sharp difference in policy.

Americans dealing with the Israelis say they detect a growing sense of alarm in Jerusalem as it dawns on the Israeli leadership that Obama intends to stand firm on the settlement freeze, not because he will necessarily get it but because he sees it as a test of Netanyahu's sincerity and the means to lever significant concessions from the Jewish state as part of a broader strategy to try and force a peace deal.

Daniel Levy, a former adviser to the left wing Israeli cabinet minister, Yossi Beilin, said Jerusalem was not prepared for the shift in policy.

"Israelis have been surprised to the extent that the administration has held the line on this, and the extent to which there is unity on this," said Levy who now works with a pro-Israeli peace group in Washington.

"The settlement freeze issue is the wedge issue. The administration's public position is that settlements undermine confidence in the two-state solution. [Obama's Middle East envoy George] Mitchell was clear about this in his report eight years ago, that there has to be a settlement freeze. This is an issue where Obama can hold a line with Congress, with public opinion."

Netanyahu's concern is evident. He has rejected a total freeze on settlement construction but knows that he cannot put too much strain on the relationship with the US. His last stint as prime minister ended a decade ago in part because he soured dealings with Washington to the alarm of many ordinary Israelis who see the US as their country's principal protection against a hostile world.

So he bowed to Obama's demand for a public acknowledgement that there must be a Palestinian state, albeit with caveats, and for an easing of the military controls over life in the West Bank. But the administration refused to soften its line on the settlements.

This week, Netanyahu dispatched his defence minister and leader of the Labour party, Ehud Barak, to mollify Washington.

Barak was a good choice. The Labour party has long projected itself as the party of peace, even if it was also the party that founded and vigorously pushed the settlement project.

Levy noted that, as prime minister nearly a decade ago, Barak tentatively offered to give up most of the settlements as part of peace agreement with the Palestinians even if he didn't follow through.

"Netanyahu is using Barak because to the uninitiated at least Barak can come here and say: I'm the leader of the peace party, I'm prepared to give everything, and its good that you've put pressure because it helps move Netanyahu and the right wingers closer toward compromise. But now it's gotten to be counterproductive, you have to stop," said Levy.

Barak arrived armed with a classic Israeli compromise that offered to put off any new building for three months but insisted that what has begun must continue and that the freeze would not apply to East Jerusalem. Israeli officials were talking up the proposal as a great sacrifice and hugely significant diplomatic initiative in the days before Barak arrived in New York.

But the Americans still said no. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, made it clear immediately beforehand that Washington wants a total halt to settlement construction.

Special envoy Mitchell reiterated that position at the four-hour meeting with Barak. US officials told reporters afterwards that there was no shift in Washington's position and that Obama had not authorised any room for negotiation.

Barak was left trying to put the best gloss on a failed mission.

"I don't think we are stuck, I don't think we are stuck now. We are continuing talks on a wide variety of subjects, to clarify things and reach understandings," he said. "The talks were positive and in a good atmosphere, even though there are still differences."

While Barak was busy projecting himself as the moderate face of the Israeli government, his own track record as the country's defence minister responsible for the Jewish settlements had not gone unnoticed.

He assured the Americans that Israel is limiting construction to within the boundaries of existing settlements and that no new colonies are being established. But last year Barak approved the conversion of a former military post in the Jordan valley, an area of strategic importance in any peace agreement, into a new settlement called Maskiyot.

The government contends that as it was an army base it cannot be considered a new settlement but the intent is clear: to solidify a permanent Israeli presence in the Jordan valley that is part of a strategy to encircle a future Palestinian state.

Barak also approved the first new construction in years on a Jewish settlement in the heart of Hebron where thousands of Palestinians have effectively been ethnically cleansed from the centre of the city to make way for a few hundred Jewish settlers. Israeli peace activists described the decision as "reckless and irresponsible" given the incendiary nature of Jewish settlement in the city.

The defence minister is also in the process of approving a new settlement near Hebron. This time officials maintain that the settlement of Sansana is not new but a neighbourhood of an existing colony, Eshkolot, that is 2.5 miles away.

Barak has approved construction in dozens of other settlements including some of those built on expropriated Arab land. In one case, the government argues that it is bound by the decision of a previous administration.
Akiva Eldar, a columnist in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, pointed out the danger for the US in accepting that argument.

"If the decisions of previous governments to expand settlements or to build new ones pave the way for the infusion of ever more settlers into the [occupied] territories, there is no point to the commitment to freeze construction and to haggle over 'natural growth'. Such earlier decisions allow Israel to place a settlement under any tree located in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," he wrote.

Realising he wasn't going to get the US administration to agree that the construction boom could continue, Barak made another plea at his meeting with Mitchell. Why, he asked, is the administration so hung up on the settlements? They are not an obstacle to peace, he contended, because it is widely assumed that all the major colonies will be incorporated inside Israel's final borders. It's an argument being rehearsed on the opinion pages of the American press by Israel's sympathisers.

Levy says that may yet prove to be why Obama is pushing the issue.

"If the Israelis can't step up to the plate on settlement issues then Obama can say let's talk about borders, and that's the real issue," he said.

Israel has consistently sought to avoid discussion about final borders because it is still trying to push them as far from the 1967 Green Line as possible, most recently by using the vast steel and concrete "security" barrier through the West Bank to place new areas of land directly under Israeli administration.

The Americans are also aware that in their divided and weakened state the Palestinians are not in a position to deliver very much and that launching fresh negotiations toward establishing a Palestinian state will require bringing Arab governments on board. To do that will probably require a significant shift in Israeli policy, such as a settlement freeze.

What is clear is that Washington sees the settlement issue as one of intent.

In the years after Israel signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993, which were supposed to result in an independent Palestinian state, it stepped up settlement construction, doubling the number of Israelis living in the West Bank and annexing fresh swathes of land - all of which raised serious doubts about its commitment to the establishment of a viable Palestine.

Even Ariel Sharon's intentionally dramatic removal of Jewish settlers from Gaza four years ago provided cover for the placement of an even larger number of Israelis in the West Bank.

The Israelis are used to playing for time. Netanyahu's friends in the well-organised and well-funded Washington lobby will be mobilising to pressure members of Congress.

Obama will be wary of expending political support in Congress that he needs to carry through dramatic healthcare reform. There are plenty of potential pitfalls from Iran to Hamas.

But Netanyahu may finally have met an American president who is not prepared to play Israel's game.

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Amnesty accuses Israel, Hamas of Gaza war crimes (AP)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:51:58 -0500

AP - Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of Gaza Strip homes in attacks that amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International charged Thursday, in the first in-depth human rights group report on the recent war in Gaza.

Israel 'wantonly destroyed Gaza'

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:24:42 -0500

Amnesty International report accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes.

Finding Fish, But Israelis Too

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:22 -0500

GAZA CITY — "They told us ‘go west or we will shoot you’," says Ashraf Sadallah. "Initially, we refused, so they began shooting very close all around our boat." At 6am on Jun. 16, Sadallah and his brother Abdel Hadi Sadallah, in their early twenties, went roughly 400 meters out to [...]

Iraq’s ‘National Sovereignty Day’ is US-Style ‘Hallmark’ Hype

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:18 -0500

Jeremy Scahill says '6/30' is meaningless

Marines bring a bit of Iraq's 'surge' to Afghan province (McClatchy Newspapers)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:07:00 -0500

McClatchy Newspapers - KABUL, Afghanistan U.S. Marines announced early Thursday that they've launched a "major operation" in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, saying they hope to drive the Taliban out of the country's major opium-producing community.

Rome gives citizenship to seized Israeli soldier (AP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:56:21 -0500

AP - Rome has given honorary citizenship to an Israeli soldier kidnapped by militants linked to Gaza's militant Islamic Hamas group three years ago.

Iraq far behind in mine clearance (AP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:43:46 -0500

AP - The Iraqi government's failure to grasp the scope of its land mine and bomb problem has derailed efforts to clear what is considered one of the world's most contaminated countries, two United Nations agencies said Wednesday.

June is deadliest month for Iraqis this year (AP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:58 -0500

AP - At least 447 Iraqi civilians were killed in June, double the toll from the previous month, according to an Associated Press tally, as insurgents took aim at crowded areas to maximize the number of casualties.

Turkey plans to restart dam project

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:33:49 -0500

Turkey today announced plans to resume a controversial £1bn dam project in the face of environmental protests that it would displace thousands of people, destroy habitats and drown priceless archaeological treasures.

The environment minister, Veysel Eroglu, said work on the Ilisu hydroelectric dam on the Tigris river in south-east Turkey would restart after a six-month funding suspension ends next week.

The announcement disappointed campaigners who believed that the project had suffered a potentially fatal blow last December, after German, Swiss and Austrian institutions announced they were withholding finance because fears about the dam's environmental and social impact had not been addressed. The governments agreed that 150 World Bank conditions on the environment, heritage sites, neighbouring states and human relocation must be met.

Turkey's government argues the dam – which is planned to generate 1,200MW of electricity – is an essential part of a £19.3bn plan to bring economic prosperity to the south-east, long blighted by armed conflict between the army and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party (PKK).

At a press conference in Ankara, Eroglu confidently said that the necessary funds would be made available, after declaring that "important work" had been carried out to bring the dam into line with international standards. The claim was not immediately confirmed by the project's backers. The [suspension] period lasts until 6 July. A spokesperson for the Swiss economy ministry told Reuters: "Switzerland is still examining the issue and will decide, together with Germany and Austria, how to proceed."

Environmentalists have warned that the dam could destroy up to 80 towns, villages and hamlets, resulting in the forced relocation of between 50,000 and 80,000 people. Campaigners have argued that residents have not been offered adequate compensation and have accused Turkey of failing to properly consult Iraq, into which the Tigris flows, and Syria, another neighbour.

Historians have warned that the dam would submerge the ancient town of Hasankeyf, which was used as a fortress by the Romans against the Persians and later destroyed by the Mongols. It was re-built in the 11th century by the Seljuks.

Turkey, which is seeking to overcome dependence on imports of foreign gas for its energy needs, insists that valuable heritage will be protected or moved.

The Ilisu project — due for completion in 2013 — is part of a wider network of dams known as the South-eastern Anatolia Project, which the government of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pinpointed as key to transforming the region's economy and quelling Kurdish separatist violence.

First planned in the 1980s, the dam has a history of troubles. The British construction company Balfour Beatty scrapped plans for a £200m investment in 2001 under pressure from environmentalists and human rights groups.

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Sarkozy envoys meet Assad in Syria (AFP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:03:46 -0500

AFP - Two top aides to President Nicolas Sarkozy held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this week, the foreign ministry said Wednesday, in the latest sign of improved ties between France and Syria.

Iraq: Key figures since the war began (AP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:51:00 -0500

AP - October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup.

Plight of Palestinians getting worse, UN warns (AP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:18:58 -0500

AP - The blockade of Gaza is causing severe humanitarian hardship and the situation is getting worse every day, the head of the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Wednesday.

Wednesday: 4 Iraqis Killed, 4 Wounded

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:06:39 -0500

Updated at 7:13 p.m. EDT, July, 1, 2009 Celebrations continued in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraqi cities. Otherwise, the country was very quiet. Only four Iraqis were reported killed and four more were wounded. No Coalition deaths were announced.

Iraqi Cabinet approves BP's offer on Rumaila (AP)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:19:31 -0500

AP - Iraq's government on Wednesday approved a BP-led consortium's offer to develop a giant oil field in the south, moving forward with the only deal struck during a much-hyped but ultimately disappointing international oil auction.

Few Bidders to Develop Iraqi Oil and Natural Gas Fields

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:30:33 -0500

Oil and gas companies were demanding far more for their services than the Iraqis were ready to pay.

Iraq Marks Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Cities

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:18:50 -0500

Iraq’s prime minister offered assurances that security could be ensured, but a car bomb that killed at least 24 marred the public holiday.

Iraqis celebrate US pullback but bombing kills 27 (AP)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:58:33 -0500

AP - Not a single American soldier was in sight. Gone, too, were the American helicopters whose buzz has for years defined Baghdad's background track. Left alone to protect the capital Tuesday were thousands of Iraqi troops and police manning checkpoints, with army tanks deployed at potential trouble spots and convoys of pickup trucks with machine guns roaming the streets.

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,322 (AP)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:56:35 -0500

AP - As of Tuesday, June 30, 2009, at least 4,322 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Iraqis celebrate withdrawal of American combat troops

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:01:00 -0500

• Prime minister declares it a national holiday
• First full military spectacle for 17 years in Baghdad

Four swords clutched by the giant sculptured hands of Saddam Hussein towered nearby as Iraq yesterday showcased life after its American overlords with an old-world claim of its might - its first full military parade for 17 years.

The war-ravaged state's new military and police force rolled around the giant war memorial that its executed president built, as Iraqis across the country revelled in a National Sovereignty Day, declared by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, as a holiday for all and a historical milestone.

In a triumphant speech on national television, Maliki said: "This day, which we consider a national celebration, is an achievement made by all Iraqis. Those who think that Iraqis are unable to defend their country are committing a fatal mistake."

He then moved to the makeshift parade ground, where a smattering of American military officials - partners and benefactors of his regime since 2006 - seemed already to have slipped into a supporting role.

"From now on, the war they started is ours," said Ibrahim al-Majid, a soldier on duty at the pageant. It took place in the shadows of the infamous stretch where Saddam would watch throughout the war with Iran as rigid rows of troops and scud missiles on lorries passed before him.

Civilians were kept well away from the site, in the heart of what is now Baghdad's international zone - a sterile block in the central city that is home to the diplomatic corps, security contractors and many key government agencies. The international zone is a foreign world to most Iraqis, who have not been allowed inside since the US invasion.

The US pullout was marred by the deaths of four of its troops, killed in what military officials described as "combat-related" attacks, on 29 June. The attack was the worst daily US casualty count in three months and capped a lethal 10 days across Iraq in which more than 250 people were killed, mostly by bombings.

Late yesterday afternoon, a bomb ripped through a marketplace, killing at least 32 people and injuring at least 100 in the restive northern city of Kirkuk, where militias and former Baathists still wage weekly battles against Iraqi security forces and, until recently, US patrols.

At the parade ground yesterday much more had changed since the last full display of military pageantry. One of Saddam's hands - taken from a plaster bust of the dictator himself - lay ignominiously on the ground, and many helmets of slain Iranian soldiers buried like doormats into either end of the road had rusted away.

Yesterday's parade started and finished near Saddam's crossed swords. But it did not travel the barricaded stretch of road that the swords still bookmark. Iraq's new leaders seemed willing to stake a claim on their country's former glory, but not by stirring too many ghosts of its past.

Elsewhere in the capital, US patrols were hard to find for the first time in six years and three months, as battle groups took stock at bases and outposts to mark the much-anticipated 30 June deadline for their withdrawal.

Some US convoys will still be seen on Iraqi roads, but they will be used almost exclusively for clearing mines and bombs laid along routes between their bases.

Iraqis had complained bitterly for years of being snarled in traffic behind slow-moving US convoys as they moved like hulking crustaceans along main roads.

Signs of the American withdrawal were tangible in many areas. Iraqi media reported US troops had pulled out of 120 outposts in recent days and were due to hand over a further 30 by last night.

The pullout was largely characterised as a repulsion of an occupation, rather than an evolution in the capabilities of Iraqi forces. "Everyone is happy," said Thair Shafeek Saleh, 50, a retiree from the Baghdad suburb of al-Qadesiyeh.

"This is a moment in history for us and from now on we will be in control of everything, especially decisions."

US President Barack Obama said yesterday that while there is more work to be done, the US has made important progress toward a stable, sovereign Iraq. "Make no mistake. There will be difficult days ahead," he added.

Iraqis seem split on whether a security vacuum will emerge, with some expressing faith in the army and police forces and others worrying that militias will be allowed to re-emerge.

"Before 2003 the army was professional," said Saleh. "We cannot repeat that immediately. But they are my sons and brothers and if they are led by good leaders, then they will keep the country safe."

Another man, Iyad al-Duleimi offered a cautionary tone: "I am happy, but are the forces up to the job? The government must monitor them, because many are beholden to militias and foreign agendas."

Baghdad's parklands were transformed into festival sites last night, with giant Iraqi flags shimmering amid an evening dust-storm, and television screens beaming live concerts with renowned singers - some of whom have recently returned from exile."I came tonight to celebrate," said Leila Hamood. "The departure of the foreign troops is the best thing for Iraqis who have endured tragedies for 40 years. We are optimistic now, because the Americans stuck to their commitment to leave. It is the best thing for everyone."

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Iraqis celebrate withdrawal of US troops