US exit from Iraq is a phoney withdrawal

The last US combat brigade in Iraq has left the country, seven years after the US-led invasion. Martin Chulov was there to witness the process for the Guardian and he describes the marked difference between the "shock and awe" US entry into Iraq with its silent, somewhat depressive, trickle out.

Thdia and commentators alike have hailed the so-called US withdrawal as the end of the US in Iraq. It is, however, no withdrawal – combat or otherwise – no matter how many times you call it that.

Fifty thousand US troops will stay in Iraq until 2011, down from 96,000, ostensibly to play a supporting role and advise Iraqi forces. That is, however, 50,000 armed US troops, backed up by major military hardware and artillery and who will operate in "self-defence" and could intervene in armed combat at the request of the Iraqi government.

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