By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published: 10:53PM BST 29 Jun 2009

Tens of thousands of Iraqis celebrated amid tight security as the country prepared to mark the end of the permanent American troop presence in the country's big cities on Tuesday.
The US pullback, agreed under a security deal signed last year, has been declared National Sovereignty Day, and the Iraqi government has declared it the beginning of the end of the American invasion.
But as the nation prepared to celebrate, an upsurge in violence that killed more than 250 in a week compounded doubts about the readiness of Iraq's security forces to handle the threat posed by terrorists and insurgent groups.
Fireworks, not bombs, coloured the Baghdad skyline last night, and thousands attended a party in a park where singers performed patriotic songs. In contrast to other big occasions since the 2003 invasion, there will be no curfew on vehicles or night-time movement.
But amid the celebratory atmosphere, additional security patrols have been deployed and the government took the additional step of banning motorcycles, which have been used in the last three mass attacks.
US commanders have said there will be no return to all-consuming violence. General David Petraeus, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, said US forces would remain at sufficient numbers to intervene at short notice at the request of Iraqi forces.
Gen Ray Odierno, Gen Petraeus's successor as top US commander in Iraq, said the timing was right for the move. "I do believe they're ready," he said. "We've seen constant improvement in the security force, we've seen constant improvement in governance."
American uniforms will not completely vanish from the streets. A small number of US forces will remain in urban centres in training and advisory roles, but the majority of the 130,000 US troops still in the country will operate jointly with their Iraqi counterparts in new co-ordination centres just outside the main population centres.
The June 30 withdrawal is the prelude to a complete American pullout by the end of 2011.
Baghdad has seen its fortunes transformed by the late 2006 decision to send an addition five combat brigades to bolster America's battle in Iraq. But there was much trepidation ahead of the pullback in the faultline cities of northern and central Iraq where the enemy presence has not been eradicated. Mosul, Iraq's second city, was yesterday hit by a car bomb that killed 10 including four policemen.
There is also growing discontent in the ranks of Sunni Muslim former insurgents who were lured away from violence by the Americans but now complain of marginalisation by the Shia Muslim-led government. Abdullah al-Obeidi, a local Sahwa leader near Mosul, said the withdrawal was premature: "Without us, they would not have beaten Al-Qaeda. We helped them a lot and security would deteriorate rapidly if we stopped what we are doing."

Kind of a good news/bad news thing. I certainly hope that the Iraqi Army & Security Forces are up to the job. Id sure hate to have to see us go into Fallujah all over again or for that matter any other urban area.

If the US Generals say it's OK I hope they're not paying lip service to Obama!

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i understand the excitement and pride that Iraq feels that they are ready to govern themselves and to defend themselves, but i do feel that it is kinna a backhanded compliment. they seem to not be very appriciative of what we and other countries have done to help secure their freedom. i might be biased on the subject, but it just seems to me that they want us out no matter what, and that negates all of the sacrifices we have made to try and better their lives. i have sacrificed, my brother and his family has sacrificed, my hero has sacrificed, and many many others have as well. i wish them the best in all of their endevors, but i am hesitant to say that they are ready for this...

Exactly. Sad that 4 soldiers were killed in Baghdad on that day. Here in Afghanistan (as well as Iraq), we get the stars and stripes free (www.stripes.com) and you can get all of the news up front with those newspapers.

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IAVA - Iraq/Afghanistan Vets of America member

I don't remember Iraq asking us to invade?...So to expect a thank you is at best nieve. The Shia in the south didn't say thank you to the British either, so there you go we were unpopular too. Will I lose any sleep over it.....NO!. I just feel annoyed that a lot of young men lost their lives in a lie!....Now can we get on and sort out the real enemy in Afghanistan/Pakistan and not get embroiled in anymore vendettas?

I don't need to type anything now.

Thanks Tex. Let's try to think of a sovereign country that was thankful to an invader.

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I just hope the pullouts...both American and British... are a military decision and not a "look good" for certain politicians....I have found the time scale of the withdrawals a little odd....how can you work on the schedule of years when situations on the ground can change within days/weeks.

I hope the Iraqi forces are able and ready to provide their own security for their own country....I just hope snap decisions over the future are not made just so it sits comfortably within the politics.

Progress will come...you cant force it

And how good will it look politically if we have to go back in there in 5-10 years and almost start from scratch because some inpatient shortsighted politician wants results now?

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It's not perfect but how could it be. Once they brought in Patreus, the US have done everything they could to bring Iraqi's together. Lets hope it holds and the Iraqi's abandon sectarian violence.