US marks Iraq exit with flag ceremony

[alp227]

Associated Press wire report



US troops in Baghdad lower the US forces-Iraq colours before they are encased. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AFP/Getty Images

After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800bn (£517bn) spent, US officials have formally ended the war in Iraq with a highly symbolic ceremony during which an American forces flag was lowered.

Troops lowered the flag and wrapped it in camouflage, formally "casing" it, according to army tradition. The ceremony was attended by the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, who told troops they leave Iraq with "lasting pride". Panetta said veterans of the nearly nine-year conflict could be "secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to cast tyranny aside".

About 4,000 US soldiers remain in Iraq and many of those are due to leave in the next few days, departing a country still facing a weakened, but stubborn insurgency and political uncertainty.

The ceremony, at Baghdad international airport on Thursday, also featured remarks from General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and General Lloyd Austin, the top US commander in Iraq.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/15/us-iraq-exit-ceremony-troops

see also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/15/us-exit-iraq-withdrawal-ambivalence

[New7up]

1. Wow!

[JDPriestly]

2. I don't really know what this will mean what with all the double-talk the government

does, but it sounds really great.

It is good news for military families -- provided they don't just get deployed elsewhere.

I wish I could express more enthusiasm, but I've been disappointed a lot by announcements like this.

If true, this is wonderful.

[USA_1]

3. al-Maliki & Other Bush Lackeys Did Not Show Up!

Nobody from Bush's hand picked puppet regime showed up for the ceremonies. That shows you how little Iraqis liked Bush's jack booted henchmen in their territory.

Don't know about anyone else since so few from DU post on other threads, but when the war started I used to post on right wing forums and was subjected to all kinds of hate and profanities for objecting to Bush's war. I told these cynics that eventually they would see that Bush's war was a crime on humanity. It turns out I was correct as the pro war crowd has disappeared from all the web forums everywhere.

The sad part is that eventually the right wingers will start another war. Will people remain silent as the pols do so or will you on this forum stand up and prevent it?

[lib2DaBone]

4. $880 Billion. 4,500 Dead American Soldiers.

What did the USA gain from this? What did we get.. a sovereign Iraq? Puh-leeze.

[Auggie]

5. What did the USA gain? Many millionaires.

[arely staircase]

6. praise baby jesus - finally

nine years of death and destruction for what? saddam is dead but so are thousands of others. invading iraq, besides being an immoral war of aggression, - one of the charges at nuremburg - was probably the single biggest strategic fuck up in american history.

finally

[unkachuck]

7. I'm glad this shitty illegal meaningless chimp war is winding down and it only cost $1 trillion!

....for it marked the beginning of our rapid decline as a believable world leader and as a democracy....the Iraq war demonstrated on many levels that our government and military belong solely to the corrupt 1%....

....there's little likelihood the military will ever be used per the will or interest of the 99% ever again....the 99% just doesn't matter anymore....isn't it strange, when it comes to the military or bailing out corporations both parties almost always agree?

[colorado_ufo]

11. Remember when the war first started?

And we were told it would last a few weeks at most? Remember "Mission Accomplished?"

My sister-in-law and I stopped speaking, because she and her friends considered me unpatriotic.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. don't forget that it would pay for itself...

because of oil revenues.

[shintao]

8. OK, so the massacre is over, How about we honor our US Troops?

It is time to turn every main st. into a Welcome Home parade for our living, wounded, and dead ME troops.

It is a time to heal this nation and bring everybody in America together, shut the place down, and have a week long celebration is spite of the greedy cons who will squeal lost profits. How about lost US Troops, broken homes and destroyed families.

It is time to get out and wash the crud off the pavements, wash the windows, and remove the dirt and dust, and welcome our troops home to a new America.

It is time to turn our city parks into American picnics, wear our best clothes and honor our ME hero's.

It is time to give them jobs and educations and training to rejoin a humble America.

WELCOME HOME BROTHERS AND SISTERS. WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!

[druidity33]

12. We should also remember

the quarter million (or more) dead Iraqis while we're at it. Or maybe the millions of people that were displaced, rendered homeless, or ruined in one way or another. War is fucking hell, and if we think the effects are limited to the money we spent and the troops we lost and the "advantages" we may or may not have gained... well then i'd say, we learned NOTHING.

I will welcome our troops home and hope they never have to fight another war (just or unjust). I hope to see troops returning and becoming Public Servants (local, regional, state and fed government)... and that they will use the life-changing experiences they lived through for the "power of good". I hope.

[Fearless]

9. How many could we have employed with 800 billion dollars?

[Ferret Annica]

10. Some Iraqis had a flag ceremony too

It was simpler and shorter, and the flag burned fast.

Which was a good reminder that many Iraqis don't consider this invasion to be any kind of success.

[RC]

13. How many innocent Iraqi's did we kill because the Iraqi people had the audacity

to fight back and defend their country against a foreign invader.
How dare they! WE are the United States! Rah, Rah, Rah!

[thereismore]

14. Why do you hate Amerikah?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. Thank you Obama for getting us out of Iraq!

Finally! Obama kept his word.

[USA_1]

17. Strange How Republicans Have Not Praised Him For That

The great Repukeblicans who claim to worship the Prince of Peace are strangely silent about that.

No surprise.