Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Even in the darkest, deadliest days of Iraq's war, you'd find people still hopeful it would all work out. That the killings would stop, the bad guys would be routed and a stability of some sort would return. That the Americans would leave with their Humvees and their private security companies and the country would -- perhaps -- get on with the freedom the U.S. promised upon Saddam Hussein's removal. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised as much, and pledged an inclusive system for all. Power-sharing politics and making all Iraqis -- Sunni, Shia, Christian -- feel they shared national values. Now, there a plenty of Iraqis who believe he had his fingers crossed when he said such things.
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CNN's Michael Holmes returns to Iraq for first time in 2 years
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Holmes: Mood in Baghdad is one of dread over where next bomb will go off
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Public services are spotty and deadly bombings are daily occurrence across country
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Former Prime Minister tells CNN Iraq seems stuck on path to sectarian war
The @placeholder departure may have ended the war for Americans, but for Iraqis, the violence, the bombs, the shootings and the torrents of blood barely skipped a beat.
Over the course of more than a dozen trips to Iraq since the war began, I've always encountered angry Iraqis -- angry at the @placeholder troops, angry at the lack of services, angry at the insurgents and the sectarian bloodletting.