As the last US combat forces left Iraq on the morning of August 18, the seven-and-a-half-year Iraq war apparently came to a close. But there was no sense that the troops' mission had been accomplished and the hasty withdrawal seemed somehow embarrassing.

There is not a single indication that the country is either prosperous or safe, breaking promises made by the US government at the beginning of the war. But they are quitting anyway.

Even some Iraqis are sorry to see the Americans leave. Former Iraqi Vice President Tareq Aziz appealed to the Obama regime from his prison cell to delay the withdrawal. "I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He cannot leave us like this. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death," he said.

He was not the only one to protest. Other Iraqi critics want the US army to stay till 2020 because, they insist, the country needs at least another 10 years to recover. They say it is irresponsible for the U.S. to leave when Iraq is still in a desperate condition. After all, the war was triggered by the Bush regime looking for something that didn't exist. Saddam Hussein died, but the Iraqi people footed the bill.

Aziz watched the developing situation in Iraq on TV from his jail cell in north Baghdad. In his opinion, Iraq is haunted by disease and hunger more seriously today than ever before. "We are all victims of America and Britain. They killed our country in many ways." His words reflect the thoughts and feelings of many Iraqis.

In fact, most Iraqi people are glad to see the back of the Americans. What they find unacceptable is that the US army devastated the country and is now leaving them in chaos.

American soldiers and their families have also been badly damaged. More than 4,400 US soldiers died over the past seven years. Countless Iraqis lost their lives. The death toll makes a mockery of any so-called achievements of this miserable and absurd war.

It is thought-provoking that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he intends to step down in 2011. "Two separate wars for every day I've been on the job is very wearing," Gates said in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine. Two endless wars and an unsolved nuclear proliferation crisis are certainly enough to exhaust him. American troops must feel the same way. They are anxious, desperate and insecure and don't want to continue fighting.

But the main problem is what the Iraqis will do after the US soldiers leave. They face Kurdish separatists, terrorism and the challenge of rebuilding a shattered economy. Neither the Iraqi government nor Iraqi security forces seem capable of shouldering the responsibilities left to them. What lies ahead is likely to be a long and dark night.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.shenbo75.com/opinion/node_7077605.htm

(This article was translated by Ren Zhongxi.)