This Week in Review: Iraq after U.S. Troops Withdrawal

<strong>This Week</strong>
<strong>An Uncertain Future</strong><br>
For most Americans, the end of U.S. engagement in Iraq cannot come soon enough. The Obama Administration has promised a complete withdrawal by the end of the year. But what kind of Iraq will we be leaving behind? And will U.S. involvement in Iraq end with the withdrawal of troops?<br>
In a pair of meticulously reported stories, Yochi Dreazan takes a hard look at the realities. The first story, for National Journal, examines the <a href="/reporting/iraq-baghdad-moktada-al-sadr-shiite-movement">growing power and political savvy of Moktada al-Sadr</a>, the young Shiite cleric whose militias were at the forefront of the anti-U.S. insurgency. Sadr may have mellowed, but he's kept his militias. In the second, Yochi reports that while most U.S. troops will be gone from Iraq by the end of the year, the State Department is just beginning to <a href="/reporting/iraq-united-states-consulate-expansion-military-troop-withdrawl">ramp up a massive diplomatic deployment</a>. The U.S consulate in the oil-rich city of Basra will soon have more than 1,200 employees—far more than most U.S. embassies. An even larger consulate is planned for the northern city of Erbil. Staffing the U.S. mission in Iraq after the troops are gone will consume about a quarter of the State Department's global operations budget.<br>
<strong>Traditions Challenged</strong><br>
One of the most despised aspects of Hosni Mubarak's regime was the so-called "Emergency Laws" that had been in place since Anwar Sadat's assassination in 1981. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who has been chronicling the Arab Spring from Cairo since May, reports on the deepening dissatisfaction with Egypt's transitional military rulers who have made no <a href="/reporting/egypt-emergency-law-mubarak-cairo-revolution-journalism">move to lift the onerous laws</a>.<br>
*<br>
In Pakistan and other conservative Islamic countries, it is often the rape victim who pays the ultimate price for the crime. Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann are documenting one rape victim's struggle against the <a href="/reporting/pakistan-honor-killing-escape-trial-human-rights-rape">"tradition" of honor killings</a>.<br>
Until next week,<br>
Tom Hundley
Senior Editor
[email protected]