‘Coalition of willing’ is an Army of one now
BAGHDAD — The British said cheerio back in July, around the same time the Romanians cleared out “Camp Dracula,” their compound on a U.S. base in southern Iraq. Tonga and Kazakhstan left ages ago, and no one seems to remember if any Icelandic forces ever made it to Iraq.
It doesn’t matter now, because as of Friday, former President George W. Bush’s “coalition of the willing” formally ceased to exist, leaving only the U.S. military’s 130,000 or so forces to shepherd their Iraqi counterparts through a volatile election season before a full American troop withdrawal that’s expected by the end of 2011.
U.S. commanders officially disbanded the Multi-National Force—Iraq, or MNF-I, and introduce the USF-I, or U.S. Force—Iraq, at a ceremony Friday in Baghdad. American soldiers and officers said the transition is largely a formality because they have been going it alone since the summer.
Southern Iraq, a mostly Shiite Muslim region whose homogeneity made it relatively more stable than Baghdad or the north, was home to the biggest contingents of non-U.S. forces: Japanese, Australian, Italian, Romanian and British, among others.
“The British had that strong accent, but it was fun,” recalled Sgt. Maj. Craig Youngblood, 37, of Miami, Fla. “I remember ’dungarees.’ It was pants or something.”
Iraqis also said the change barely registers. To them, there never has been a question that Americans were in charge for these tumultuous past six years.
“There’s no difference, even if they change the name,” said Mohammed Abdul Jabar, 40, a furniture salesman in Baghdad. “The main enemy, the ones who destroyed the country, who disbanded our military, it’s the Americans.”
American officials spin the disbanding of the coalition differently, saying the end of the MNF-I brings Iraqis one step closer to regaining real sovereignty, “a new era in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” as one news release put it. On the lack of sovereignty, Iraqis agree. The name change is another matter.
For the military, the name change also brings some structural tweaks. USF-I will bring five command groups under a single headquarters, streamlining some operations and shrinking the American footprint.
The U.S. military is staking its claim to the new acronym through a Twitter account and a Facebook page.
For now, however, a Google search of “USFI” turns up the Unmarried and Separated Fathers of Ireland and the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, a revolutionary socialist group.
