Analyst: Baghdad politicizing withdrawal

WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Iraqi lawmakers are politicizing the security situation in Iraq, claiming the U.S. troop withdrawal as a victory despite militant threats, analysts say.

Iraqis celebrated National Sovereignty Day on June 30 as U.S. troops withdrew from cities and villages to their military bases.

The day was marked with parades and fireworks, though violence in the period surrounding the June 30 deadline was on the rise.

Lingering behind the sense of Iraqi victory in the wake of the troop deadline is a notion that militants and terrorist groups will take advantage of the security vacuum to wreak havoc on the Iraqi population, writes Ranj Alaaldin for Foreign Policy magazine.

Alaaldin, a political commentator specializing in Middle East affairs, says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is taking personal credit for the troop withdrawal as lawmakers begin preparations for national elections in January.

Meanwhile, the victory may lie with the militants in the holdouts in Diyala province and the restive northern city of Mosul, he claims.

Strategists had considered exemptions for Mosul concerning the troop withdrawal. Two suicide bombers detonated their explosive vests Thursday in the al-Qala region in Talafar, about 30 miles west of Mosul. A morning attack struck a counter-terrorism official and his family, while a later attack struck onlookers, killing at least 34 others.

Alaaldin says that while Maliki is keen on gaining support from the U.S. deadline, "Iraq's leaders are running from the reality that Iraq is still a divided nation unable to handle its security challenges."