Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, ending war
Posted December 18, 2011 11:06 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The last convoy of U.S. soldiers pulled out of Iraq on Sunday, ending their withdrawal after nearly nine years of war and military intervention that cost almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives.
The war launched in March 2003 with missiles striking Baghdad to oust dictator Saddam Hussein is leaving behind a fragile democracy still facing insurgents, sectarian tensions and a struggle to define its place in the Arab region.
The final column of around 100 mostly U.S. military MRAP armored vehicles carrying 500 U.S. troops trundled across the southern Iraq desert through the night along an empty highway to the Kuwaiti border.
For President Barack Obama, the military pullout is the fulfillment of an election promise to bring troops home from a conflict inherited from his predecessor that tainted America’s standing worldwide.
For Iraqis, it brings a sense of sovereignty but fuels worries their country may slide once again into the kind of sectarian violence that killed thousands of people at its peak in 2006-2007.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government still struggles with a delicate power-sharing arrangement between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni parties, leaving Iraq vulnerable to meddling by Sunni Arab nations and Shiite Iran.
The intensity of violence and suicide bombings has subsided for now. But a stubborn Sunni Islamist insurgency and rival Shiite militias remain a threat, carrying out almost daily attacks.
Iraq says its forces can contain the violence but they lack capabilities in areas such as air defense and intelligence gathering.
A deal for several thousand U.S. troops to stay on as trainers fell apart over the sensitive issue of legal immunity.
