US marks Iraq exit with flag ceremony [View all]
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
= new reply since forum marked as read