Unease Mounts as U.S. Troops Leave Iraq's Cities

By GINA CHON

BAGHDAD -- American commanders and Iraqi officials and residents are watching with growing unease as U.S. combat forces end their duty in Iraq's urban areas this week, amid almost daily reports of violence.

In Iraq, Some Celebrate, Others Worry

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A U.S. soldier stood at his base Monday in the northeastern town of Baquba, 60 kilometers from Baghdad.

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U.S. officials worry that as they continue to battle the remnants of an insurgency and efforts to reignite sectarian strife, they will be losing critical, on-the-ground intelligence gleaned from the neighborhoods they once lived in and patrolled. The boots-on-the-ground approach was crucial to the Pentagon's mostly successful surge strategy in Baghdad.

Many Iraqis are still deeply suspicious of the sectarian leanings of the country's nascent security forces. For them, the pullout of American troops means the disappearance of an effective check on suspect Iraqi soldiers and police officers.

In Khadra, a neighborhood in western Baghdad, those fears are already playing out.

Earlier this month, American soldiers from the Army's 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, handed over their base to an Iraqi unit. The same week, a local television station, Al-Sharqiya, reported that some residents believed the Iraqi army colonel in charge of the area was behind several kidnappings for ransom.

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Agence France-Presse

U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police leave their base for their last joint patrol in Khan Bani Saad, Iraq, ahead of Tuesday's deadline for the American pullback.

A few days later, the same station broadcast pictures of homes in Khadra that had been spray-painted with red check marks, X's and other symbols. One Khadra resident, who awoke one morning to find a big red X on the wall surrounding his home, said he thought the symbol had sectarian significance since it seemed, from talking to neighbors, that the mark appeared on homes belonging to Sunni families.

"We're very scared about the meaning of this," the Sunni resident said in an interview. "Maybe we will be targeted for something."

Tuesday is the deadline for American combat troops to withdraw from cities and move to bases outside population centers. The date was established in a security pact approved last year that also sets the deadline for the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq at the end of 2011.

Iraqi officials have hailed the American pullout from Iraqi cities as a victory against insurgents. June 30 is an official holiday here.

But headline-grabbing attacks have increased. At least 200 Iraqis have been killed in the 10 days leading up to the June 30 deadline.

U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Stephen Lanza acknowledged that with most U.S. combat forces pulling back to the big bases, American troops will mostly be getting their information from local sources.

"There is a chance we could be flying blind at times because we won't always be able to see with our own eyes what is going on," said one American officer. "But that's the chance we have to take with this transition."

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Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry, Fort Hood, Texas, pose for a photograph at an American base on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday, while a heavy sandstorm hit the capital, closing the airport and delaying the announcement of the winners of several oil contracts.

More worrying for Iraqis is the sudden evacuation of a force seen as a neutral buffer between Shiite and Sunni neighbors, and security forces long thought to have been infiltrated by Shiite militia. Top security officials have worked to root out personnel with sectarian agendas.

In Khadra, a largely Sunni, middle-class neighborhood, residents are worried about alleged sectarian leanings after the reports this month on the Al-Sharqiya TV network. Khadra had once been seen as a stronghold for al Qaeda in Iraq, but security began improving after U.S. troops set up bases there in 2007. The area west of Khadra, however, is still believed to be an al Qaeda safe haven.

Iraqi Army Col. Khaim Rusin Rahim, head of the 6th Infantry Division's 3rd Battalion, denied the kidnapping accusations, saying the local TV station had a personal agenda against him. He said the markings were meant to show which homes were empty, and declined to comment further.

Col. Rahim, a Shia, said he is popular with the Sunni residents of Khadra. He showed a reporter a video of him going out in the neighborhood earlier this month and being greeted by residents with claps and banners hailing him.

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U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police leave their base for their last joint patrol in Khan Bani Saad, Iraq, ahead of the American pullback.

"If the people were against me, why would they come out to greet me?" Col. Rahim said.

U.S. officers who were stationed at the base said they were unaware of the accusations against Col. Rahim and the markings on the homes, and would look into the matter.

But Capt. Maxwell Scott, an intelligence officer, and other officers, said the Iraqi soldiers largely worked on their own and "didn't really seem to need us anymore." They said that meant they wouldn't always know the details about what was going on in Khadra.

"We can't blame them, because this is about them taking over," Capt. Scott said. "And a lot of times, their intelligence is better than ours, anyway."

Still, many residents are uneasy. One Sunni resident, who had just moved back to Khadra three months ago after fleeing from an insurgent attack near his home last year, said he was worried about security again.

"I don't think our soldiers can control the situation," he said. "It's better to still have the Americans here. They are our quality assurance for our own forces."

Separately, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Sunday it had pushed back by one day the announcement of winners of a closely watched oil-bidding round, citing a sandstorm that forced the shutdown of the Baghdad airport. The ministry said it will try to announce the awards on Tuesday.

The winners are to develop six existing oil fields and two gas fields, marking the first opening of the petroleum sector to Western companies since Iraq nationalized the industry in 1972.

BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA are among the 35 companies that qualified to bid.

Write to Gina Chon at gina.chon@wsj.com