Last US combat troops depart Iraq (just kidding)

[ At one time there were millions of Christians there, and a sizable Jewish population... now it's a totally Muslim-controlled country...  So what was the point of toppling Saddam Hussein again?  Oh yeah - he was a bad guy.... but he had NOTHING to do with 9/11.... ]

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At night and in secret, the last US combat troops depart

Some head home, others to Afghanistan. But for all, the war in Iraq is over

five months after the start of one of the most bitterly divisive wars of modern times, the remaining American combat forces left Iraq under the cover of darkness to head home.

The “last patrol” of 362 military vehicles and 1,820 soldiers began pulling out from Baghdad just after midnight, retracing the route they had taken at the time of the invasion. The troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, many of them veterans of the country’s ferocious insurgency, were on their way out through the Euphrates valley to Kuwait.

The move took place two weeks ahead of schedule, the timing kept confidential in an attempt to avoid insurgent attacks on the vulnerable departing column. A force of around 56,000 will be left behind for training purposes, but these too will leave by the end of next year.

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