Today, the White House announced that the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) as begun by President Bush will soon end—at least in name. When President Obama took office, there were around 140,000 troops deployed there. At the end of this month (August) there are supposed to be around 50,000 remaining in the transition force—according to the White House. The new mission name is to be Operation New Dawn, where the residual force of deployed personnel will focus on training the Iraqi military, as well as performing counter-terrorism operations.
I also read today where "electricity" remains a serious problem in Iraq, even after billions were spent by the US to help modernize and expand the nation's electrical generation and distribution capability. When OIF began in 2003, it did not take the Army Corps of Engineers long to determine just how bad Iraq's electrical grid was, not counting damage done by bombing during the early stages of OIF. The regime in power at the time had cared very little about modernizing the power grid, unless it involved palaces and other high profile government facilities. Now, after all these years and dollars spent, much still remains to be accomplished—with poor neighborhoods in Baghdad averaging around five hours of electricity per day.
So, while from a political standpoint one might point to realization of a "promised end" to OIF, in my view there is much yet to be settled in Iraq before anyone can say it really is "the end".
