We’ll Always Have Baghdad

The Iraqi capital threw a party Monday as U.S. troops began pulling out of Iraqi cities. It’s the first step in the military’s withdrawal plan, which promises to bring U.S. forces home by 2011. But it will be some time before many of the 131,000 troops return to the U.S., and there’s virtually no accounting of the thousands of private contractors and mercenaries.

BBC:

US troops are withdrawing to base in Iraq, six years after the invasion, handing control of cities and towns to Iraq’s new security forces.

Tuesday has been declared National Sovereignty Day, a public holiday, and the capital Baghdad threw a giant party on Monday evening.

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U.S. Army / Sgt. 1st Class Alex Licea

Iraqi national police officers hurry into a CH-47 Chinook helicopter after completing an Iraqi-led operation outside eastern Baghdad.