Barack Obama, the US president, said in a message this weekend that Iraq would "chart its own course" as US combat operations come to an end. This may have been welcome news for war-weary Americans, but it has fuelled anxieties about the future among Iraqis.<br /><br />Meeting the August 31 deadline allows Obama to say he is fulfilling a pledge to end the war launched by George Bush, his predecessor, seven years ago.<br /><br />However, some 50,000 US troops will remain until the end of 2011 to advise Iraqi security forces in combat missions and protect US interests - in what Washington is calling an "advisory and support" role.<br /><br />But the failure of Iraqi leaders to form a new government almost six months after elections, and persistent attacks by insurgents, have done little to instill confidence among Iraqis.<br /><br />Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the peak in 2006-07 of the sectarian killings unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion, but levels of violence remain high.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from Baghdad on Iraqis who are left wondering what the future will bring.<br /><br />[Tuesday, August 31, 2010]
