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Even as President Obama shifts troops and resources away from Iraq into Afghanistan, fresh fighting has erupted in Baghdad that threatens to unravel any nascent stability. The fighting broke out over the weekend in response to the arrest of Adel Mashadani, a key figure in the Sunni “Awakening” movement, whose fighters were paid by the US to lay down their weapons. Meanwhile seven people were killed in a suicide attack in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Mosul has seen a spike in violence over the past two years, as Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters were driven out of Anbar. The US Army today formally handed over to Iraq, control of the anti-al-Qaeda fighters. The Bush administration’s so-called “surge” in US troops literally bought the peace in Iraq’s Anbar province, enabling President Obama to recently announce a draw-down in combat troops by 2010. There are currently plans for at least 50,000 troops to remain in Iraq until 2011. The US Senate is due to vote on Obama’s nomination of Christopher Hill to be the next US Ambassador to Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki this week addressed an Arab summit Doha, Qatar, touting the success of peace and democracy in Iraq. But has Iraq really emerged from years of devastating war?

GUEST: Ra’ed Jarrar, Iraq Consultant to the American Friends Service Committee