After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion spent, US officials formally shut down the war in Iraq. US Defence Secretary Leon stepped off his military plane in Baghdad on Dec 15 as the leader of America’s war in Iraq, but will leave as one of many top US and global officials who hope to work with the struggling nation as it tries to find its new place in the Middle East and the broader world.
He and several other US diplomatic, military and defence leaders participated in a highly symbolic ceremony during which the flag of US Forces-Iraq was officially retired, or “cased,” according to Army tradition. The US Forces-Iraq flag was furled — or wrapped — around a flagpole and covered in camouflage. It will be brought back to the United States.
As of Thursday (Dec 15), there were two US bases and about 4,000 US troops in Iraq — a dramatic drop from the roughly 500 military installations and as many as 170,000 troops during the surge ordered by President George W. Bush in 2007, when violence and raging sectarianism gripped the country. All US troops are slated to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, but officials are likely to meet that goal a bit before then.