2009 will be a year of major change in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

2009 will be a year of major change in Iraq
By Robert H. Reid - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 30, 2008 18:01:59 EST

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military will take its first steps toward ending its combat role in Iraq in 2009, after a sharp drop in violence this year — and Iraqi voters will choose leaders in elections that could provide a key clue to whether the security gains will endure.

Those events will make 2009 a watershed year in Iraq — perhaps the most significant since the U.S.-led invasion nearly six years ago.

If things go well, Iraq could be on its way to relative stability — if not the liberal, Western-style democracy foreseen when the U.S. led the 2003 invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

But failure could lead to a new spiral of violence. The risk of failure is high.

The suspicion and bitterness among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds that fueled the conflict still run deep, even though attacks have fallen by 80 percent since last March, according to the U.S. military.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_2009_iraq_123008/%2e