World

Iraqi flag flies over Baghdad green zone

by LotusFlower | January 1, 2009 at 10:12 am

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The Iraqi flag once more flies over Baghdad a symbol that should indicate that the slow return of self determination to the Iraqi Government is picking up pace.

Gordon Brown has already pledged that British troops will be out of Iraq before the summer but there is no date confirmed for US troops to leave yet.

An Iraqi flag once again flies outside the old presidential palace of Saddam Hussein after the United States returned the building, one of the most powerful symbols of the US-led occupation, to the Iraqi Government today.

Iraqi soldiers also stood guard in greater numbers at checkpoints across Baghdad’s green zone as control of security inside the fortified compound was handed to the Iraqi authorities, although US troops will maintain a presence.

Marveling at the transition, Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, proposed a national holiday on the first day of the year to mark the moment the country “regained its sovereignty” almost six years after the invasion.