Iraq celebrates official end to U.S. presence

“Iraq Day, we are all for Iraq,” Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a mass text message sent Saturday morning.

“I congratulate you and our Iraqi nation on this great historic day, my love and respect to you and your families, your brother Nuri al-Maliki.”…

Outside a Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad’s Adhamiya district, a place where Sunnis and Shiites once battled one another and American troops, hundreds of men and boys gathered to listen to religious leaders who asked them to vow to preserve Iraq’s independence.

One banner read: “This is the start of our spring.”

The crowd outside the mosque chanted “American cowards” and “Sunnis and Shiites will remain united in this country no matter what happens.”