A U.S. Commander Went For A Rare Stroll In Baghdad. Many Iraqis Just Shrugged

It had been years since anyone had seen an American military commander walking around the streets of downtown Baghdad.

So when Marine Brig. Gen. Austin Renforth went with his Iraqi counterpart for a tour of the city's most crowded neighborhoods on Friday, it wasn't clear what kind of reception he would get.

Sixteen years after the United States and its coalition partners invaded Iraq, most Iraqis still blame the U.S. for disbanding the Iraqi army and for the security vacuum and devastating civil war that followed.

For most of the past decade, U.S. forces have been largely confined to Iraqi bases — mostly out of sight and out of mind for Iraqi civilians. But the country's military commanders have relied on American, as well as Iranian, support to help fight