Official end of combat in Iraq, but what’s next for Iraqis?

Today marks the formal end of the United States’ combat mission in Iraq, after almost eight years. There are now fewer than 50,000 troops left in Iraq ? all serving in non-combat roles. The Obama administration has pledged to withdraw all troops by October 2011. But many are now asking questions about what Iraq’s future holds. What kind of presence will the U.S. have there in the coming years and is it realistic for the country to fully support itself by the end of next year?

We talk with Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law School and a former senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Feldman wrote an essay in The Wall Street Journal, comparing the United States’ involvement in South Korea, after the Korean War, to the United States’ current situation in Iraq today.