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Subscribe to RSSThe last 480 troops left Iraq early Sunday morning in high spirits, happy to be heading home for the holidays. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Updated at 8:46 a.m. ET
KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait -- The last American troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait early Sunday, ending the U.S. military presence there after nearly nine years.
As the last convoy left Iraq at daybreak Sunday, soldiers whooped, bumped fists and embraced each other in a burst of joy and relief, The Associated Press reported.
NBC News' Richard Engel tweeted from the border: "The gate to #iraq is closed. Soldier just told me, 'that's it, the war is over.'"
The final column of around 100 mostly MRAP armored vehicles carrying 500 U.S. troops trundled through the night along an empty highway, across the southern Iraq desert to the Kuwaiti border.
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After a ceremony Thursday in Baghdad formally marking the end of the war, the timing and all other details of the departure of the last convoy were kept under tight secrecy due to security concerns. The low-key end to the war was just another reminder of how dangerous Iraq remains, even though violence is lower now than at any other time since the 2003 invasion.
The 210-mile trip from a base in southern Iraq took about five hours.
"I just can't wait to call my wife and kids and let them know I am safe," Sgt. First Class Rodolfo Ruiz said as the border came into sight. Soon afterward, he told his men the mission was over: "Hey guys, you made it."
NBC's Richard Engel answers your questions about Iraq
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little tweeted Sunday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "approved the order officially ending the Iraq war" at 6:59 a.m. ET.
The Iraq war began on March 20, 2003, at a time when national defense was a top priority for Americans still shocked by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It continued with the invasion and ouster of Saddam Hussein, then ground through years of war against an insurgency that left tens of thousands dead.
Among those dead were nearly 4,500 Americans, and the war cost $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The question of whether it was worth it all is yet unanswered.
"It's good to see this thing coming to a close. I was here when it started," Staff Sgt. Christian Schultz said just before leaving Contingency Operating Base Adder, 185 miles south of Baghdad, for the border. "I saw a lot of good changes, a lot of progress, and a lot of bad things too."
Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Army soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, inspect their body armor at Camp Adder during final preparations for the last American convoy to leave Iraq.
For President Barack Obama, the military pullout is the fulfilment 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 Nouri 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.
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For many Iraqis security remains a worry -- but no more than jobs and getting access to power in a country whose national grid provides only a few hours of electricity a day.
"We don't think about America... We think about electricity, jobs, our oil, our daily problems," said Abbas Jaber, a government employee in Baghdad. "They left chaos."
Payments to sheikhs
After Obama announced in October that troops would come home by the end of the year as scheduled, the number of U.S. military bases was whittled down quickly as hundreds of troops and trucks carrying equipment headed south to the Kuwaiti border.
U.S. forces, which had ended combat missions in 2010, paid $100,000 a month to tribal sheikhs to secure different parts of highways leading south to reduce the risk of roadside bombings and attacks.
At the height of the war, more than 170,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq at more than 500 bases. By Saturday, there were fewer than 3,000 troops, and one base.
At COB Adder, as dusk fell before the departure of the last convoy, one group of soldiers slapped barbecue sauce on slabs of ribs brought in from Kuwait and laid them on grills alongside hot dogs and sausages.
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Janna Less, center, 23, smiles as she sits on the last Air Force flight out of Ali Air Base near Nasiriyah, en route to Kuwait on Saturday.
The last troops flicked on the lights studding their MRAP vehicles and stacked flak jackets and helmets in neat piles, ready for the final departure for Kuwait and then home.
"A good chunk of me is happy to leave. I spent 31 months in this country," said Sgt. Steven Schirmer, 25, after three tours of Iraq since 2007. "It almost seems I can have a life now, though I know I am probably going to Afghanistan in 2013. Once these wars end I wonder what I will end up doing."
Remembering the last slain American
When the convoy crossed the border into Kuwait around 7:45 a.m. local time, the atmosphere was subdued inside one of the vehicles. Along the road, a small group of Iraqi soldiers waved to the departing American troops.
"My heart goes out to the Iraqis," said Warrant Officer John Jewell, acknowledging the challenges ahead. "The innocent always pay the bill."
'Smooth sailing'
Soldiers standing just inside the crossing on the Kuwaiti side of the border waved and snapped photos as the final trucks rumbled over.
"I'm pretty excited," said Sgt. Ashley Vorhees. "I'm out of Iraq. It's all smooth sailing from here."
Vote: How would you describe the war in Iraq?
Spc. Brittany Hampton joked that no one was going to believe her back home when she told them she was in the very last of the 110 vehicles in the convoy to exit.
"But we really truly were the last soldiers in Iraq. So it's pretty awesome," she said.
"It's just an honor to be able to serve your country and say that you helped close out the war in Iraq," added Spc. Jesse Jones, a 23-year-old who volunteered to be in the last convoy. "Not a lot of people can say that they did huge things like that that will probably be in the history books."
A handful of U.S. military personnel will remain in the country, working with the U.S. Embassy to help with arms sales and training for Iraqi forces. Talks could resume next year on whether more U.S. troops can return for future training missions.
In the meantime, U.S. officials say there will be roughly 16,000 people involved in the American diplomatic effort in Iraq.
About 2,000 will be diplomats and federal workers. The remaining 14,000 will be contractors -- roughly half involved with security.
NBC News, msnbc.com staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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I am joyous that our fine men and women are leaving that hell hole. Now the Muslims can fight each other for power over the region. I have stopped caring about their problems with suicide bombers and other hate attacks. Now if we can get our politicians to cut funding to all Muslim dominated countries and let them deal with their own failed ideology. We have our own problems here in America that needs to be cleaned up and having our country distracted with their never ending violence is counter productive to our own economy and well being. We can not solve their problems and they can not solve ours.
The Iraqi people rightfully believe we were more interested in oil than either ridding the world of WMD's or their dictator and in the process killed a lot of innocent people and were occupying their country instead of letting them conduct their affairs. Some of our leaders including our current President thought it an ill conceived and poorly waged campaign and one of his election promises was to see to it that our troops were withdrawn as safely and as soon as possible while leaving behind an adequate State Department contingent to try to maintain a base for diplomacy. There's no way in hell the people of this country would tolerate our military being sent back because it's a problem that is unsolvable with military force and it is for the people of Iraq to decide their fate. I also recall the rants from those who said we wouldn't be able to pull our troops out and there would be a blood bath and some of our troops and equipment would fall victim to terrorists and insurgents but watching CNN and seeing the last of our troops crossing into Kuwait I thought to myself someone in charge must be doing something right because the know it all Cheney types would have us staying in Iraq for another decade before they could figure out how to make that same trip.
Cheney not only made millions from the NO BID Contract Halliburton Company but also pocketed millions from Saddam"s Castle (Something like 700,000,000 went poof).
Republican's get a "hard on" thinking of "endless war".
Mission Accomplished!
This time for real!
One would hope, anyway.
Bush had the gall to stand victorious in front of "Mission Accomplished" when we bombed and invaded a sovereign nation(NO WMD) through lies of greed and payback.
100% FALSE. No private contractors left. No "large number of personnel". You're either misinformed or intentionally misleading people.
The ONLY people who will still be there are ONLY 100 to 150 officials to stay at the American Embassy. That's IT.
Seriously - instead of GUESSING? Try looking it up. 100 to 150 officials at the embassy - every last troop is GONE. It's over.
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GOP is bitter because they started the War and Obama had to end it.
So they try many different hokey arguments.
-> Net change is zero. = s.t.f.u.
-> We can't leave. = Ever, or at least until a GOP President can take credit for it.
-> Bush deserves credit cuz' he promised we'd leave. = Yeah right, war was supposed to be over in 6 months!
Silly, bitter, GOP.
Nothing personal, but many of us not longer believe the words of the American government.
^ You have to learn to find facts instead of "believing in".
Otherwise you will just end up letting another Dick Cheney and W Bush make you their b*th, which is what they did when they tricked you into this War.
And they will do it to you again, if you let them, it'll just have the name Gingrich or Williard or Bachmann - War Mongers all.
Where's the "Mission Accomplished" banner on an aircraft carrier? Or at at least a "Mission Impossible" banner on a hummer
The Iraqi people rightfully believe we were more interested in oil.
^ Dick Cheney admitted as much, and now 5000 Americans are dead because of him.
American history has produced few genuinely evil political figures.
Joe McCarthy, Dick Cheney. Not many more are among them.
Scomma, Cheney and Bush decided to practice restraint in our reaction to 9/11/01. We should have just utilized our advanced WMDs to cleanly extinct (within hours) the entire population of Iraq, Afganistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Russia and China would not have blamed us or retaliated and we could have just devided the land btw. the three of us. If we did so, 5000 of our young men and women would be alive now
All's I know is they better treat well and take care of the Military Dogs coming home too. I'm sick of hearing how much they use dogs over there and then dispose of them without a thought. Its nice to hear the happy stories where the soldier takes one home.
Kudos Liz...war dogs are heroes too!
Thanks for the military serving our country.
Here is the 9/11/2001 Commission Final Report: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/
Here is the relation between Jessica Lynch and Tillman: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18287244/ and http://www.prwatch.org/node/6034 Pat Tillman had made the appointment to meet with journalist after the last tour in Afghanistan in 2004 about his thought of the wars but he never made it and his diary was missing.
After one reads the 9/11 report, one may wonder the connections in the midst of PAM AM bombings and its hearings ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103#Compensation_from_Pan_Am ...Condoleezza's relation with Moammar Gaddafi
The Libya had destroyed the mass weapon construction (in what year) but 9/11/2001 was hit by massive destruction in U.S.A. And about 2 years later, our nation have sent troops to Iraq started the massive invasion and destruction there.
The winner is the department of defense to which it has shot up the massive expense upto USD 700 billion to which the money is running to some former VP friends and some senators' husbands/friends/relatives companies.
"Sugar" boils "sugar" but not 99%.
Thanks for the military serving our country.
Here is the 9/11/2001 Commission Final Report: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/
Here is the relation between Jessica Lynch and Tillman: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18287244/ and http://www.prwatch.org/node/6034 Pat Tillman had made the appointment to meet with journalist after the last tour in Afghanistan in 2004 about his thought of the wars but he never made it and his diary was missing.
After one reads the 9/11 report, one may wonder the connections in the midst of PAM AM bombings and its hearings ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103#Compensation_from_Pan_Am ...Condoleezza's relation with Moammar Gaddafi
The Libya had destroyed the mass weapon construction (in what year) but 9/11/2001 was hit by massive destruction in U.S.A. And about 2 years later, our nation have sent troops to Iraq started the massive invasion and destruction there.
The winner is the department of defense to which it has shot up the massive expense upto USD 700 billion to which the money is running to some former VP friends and some senators' husbands/friends/relatives companies.
Sugar boils sugar but not the 99%.
Next stop is Syria. After that, next stop is Iran. After that, next stop is North Korea. After that, next stop is China. After that, next stop is Russia. After that, next stop is Hell.
It's about #ucking time!!! Shouldn"t of been there in the 1st. place!!! 4,000 American troops and 10's of 1,000's of Iraqi citizens, dead. "Mission accomplished!!!"
Eric, it should have been ZERO troops dead and 100 million ME people dead.
Not just to Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, et. al, ... nor to most of a spineless Congress, ...nor to the feeble kowtowing news media, ... NOR to the MAJORITY of Americans enthralled in video-game detachment while rooting on the invasion ... WHAT THE HELL WHERE YOU THINKING?!!! ... that we were, perhaps, liberating a bunch of Belgians?!!!
Jose, we were/are idiots, are we not ? We are dealing with a violent, extreemist THEOLOGY. And this theology is not isolated in a single country
Let's get this straight all you Leftist, Liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democrat liars and robot followers, B. Hussein Obama DID NOT END THE WAR IN IRAQ, he merely withdrew the remaining U.S. Troops from there. Former President George W. Bush won the Iraq War a few years ago, when Saddam Hussein was captured by the U.S. Troops under Former President George W. Bush's command, and was later tried & executed by hanging, by the New Iraqi Government.
Saddam Hussein's two psychopathic sons, Uday & Qusay were also killed (although one may have committed suicide during the firefight when they died) by U.S. Troops under the command of Former President George W. Bush. So get that right!! B. Hussein Obama merely removed the troops, from Iraq, THAT'S IT!! He didn't win any wars, nor did he end any wars. B. Hussein Obama merely withdrew the U.S. Troops from a nation whose murderous dictator had already been toppled and replaced by a democratic government and in which said dictator and his two heirs to the throne were all captured or killed, by the U.S. Troops, under the command of Former President George W. Bush.
You are so right on both counts, but my... the Devil is indeed in the details! Obama, indeed, did not end the war in Iraq. Our moronic decision in going in has ensured war(s) with or without us for years to come. And George W. Bush DID indeed won the war ... for IRAN! - the ultimate winner of this mess!!
Lol, what a brainwashed sheep of the right you are Johny Bee. Now explain to us how Dubya gets all the credit for killing Osama Bin Laden as well!
johnny Bee.....seriously....Obama did indeed end the war. The war is never over until they take the threads off! What the hell do you know? Did you not notice the soldiers carrying their weapons until they boarded flight home. Obama deserves a lot of credit for ending this war. The iraqi war. Obama got Bin Laden too but we know that it War isnt over until we send my soldiers home from that hole too! Which i hope is soon. Go volunteer Johnny b in the Pacific, say Guam. Ignorance is bliss
Thank God we also withdrew our thousands of CIA operatives and "contractor para-military"
I want to say welcome home & thank you to all the men & women of the armed forces that served & honored their commitment to do as they were ordered, Welcome home soldiers & hold your heads high with pride, You did as ordered.
I thank the families & friends of our deceased soldiers & want them to believe here's a American that will never forget what they sacrificed for me, and for you & you & you & you & you & you & you & you & you & you & on and on. I truly believe the majority of our soldiers were under the impression they were protecting us from the evil ones when they signed on that dotted line, Most of us on the home front believed it also the 1st time we seen you stepping off the planes to bravely fight the enemies our govt claimed was going to use WMD against us if we didn't act upon the threat immediately. I truly hope those that gave up their lives were still under the impression they were fighting for their countries safety when they lost their life
I pray for the safety of the troops & personnel left behind, Whether that's a choice of theirs or a Govt.order.
Lastly, I think a lot of these soldiers returning are going to experience the real (Shock and Awe) when they see for them selves just what they have been fighting to protect. God show mercy upon us.
America has won the war to defeat of world terrorism. Having killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians while sustaining only about 5000 dead soldiers, the American people should be proud for waging and winning a major war in Iraq. The World is now a safer place because the Americans waged war for ten years against a nation stockpiling WMD. Now is the time for Americans to celebrate, to parade, and to shower confetti in NYC.
Victorious America should begin abandoning its military bases in Asia, Europe and especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. At home, America should dismantle the TSA and Homeland Security Department. They are no longer needed. Funding for the Department of War can be reduced without compromising national security. America can now live in peace and harmony.
With the ending of a war economy, the American peace economy will revitalize nascent industries as the nation changes over from a "guns to butter" economy. American-made products will once again be competitive and sold worldwide. More importantly, the American worker will take pride in earning a living rather than begging for government assistance, at long last.
Iraq's internal devide btw. political ideology is not a threat to their prosperity. It is their lack of demonstrated non-violent negotiation
I went from a worker Bee to a Solider Bee and back to a Worker Bee and the Leadership broke their word for Military Retirees on Medical and Dental care.
Now a New Crop of Solider Bees are coming home to McJobs because of Bush, the Republicans, Wall Street and the BANKSTERS.
Welcome Home my Brothers and Sisters in Arms and thanks for your service.
ted, most of our current local police are x-military from Iraq and Afganistan and their ability to perform their police work in American society is less than adaptable from their military experience. They conduct themselves in a para-military manner in which EVERYONE in our society is the enemy.
Welcome home to all and thank you for your selfless service!
Finally there all leaving this war just in time for X-Mas.
Now they can prepare for the invasion of Iran within the next 2 months or so.
Good luck.
Free, you are so right. All Iran wants to do is destroy Israel. I recently converted to the Republican Party (and we can use all the financial support we can get)
"Recently" Kevin? The republicans weren't crazy enough for you before??
leroy, I needed for them to decompensate further before I would give them my support.
How come I didn't get this much press when I moved out of Philly? Mission Accomplished for me?
Imagine if we had used this money for the needy here at home. What a more positive impact we could make on people's lives.
"I am a direct messenger of God and you must comply to my ideology and directives or suffer my wrath". So said the Pentagon. (but utilizing only one testical)
testicle* and lol
Welcome home Troops, job well done!!! We love you and we thank you for protecting us.