U S ends military operations in Iraq

After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq.

Gen Lloyd Austin(who eight years, eight months and 26 days ago gave the order for US troops to storm across the border into Iraq), the top US commander in Iraq gave the order to retire the flag of US Forces-Iraq 


Members of the U.S. military retire its ceremonial flags signifying the end of their presence in Iraq at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center in Baghdad December 15, 2011.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and several other U.S. diplomatic, military and defense leaders participated in a highly symbolic ceremony during which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq was officially retired, or "cased," according to Army tradition.

As of Thursday Dec 15,2011, there were two U.S. bases and about 4,000 U.S. 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.

 Timeline: The U.S. War in Iraq


U.S. invasion began on March 20,2003

  

Baghdad falls and the U.S. invasion topples Saddam Hussein's government. Different Iraqi political sects start competing for power, and violence erupts.

  

From USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush announces that major combat missions in Iraq have ended in May 2003

  

Saddam Hussein is captured in a hole near his hometown Tikrit and taken to an American base near Baghdadin Dec 2003

David Kay, who lead the U.S. weapons inspections team in Iraq after the invasion, testifies before the Senate that there were no 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' ( WMD) in Iraq in Jan 2004

The U.S. transfers national sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government during a ceremony in the Baghdad Green Zone. Iyad Allawi becomes interim Prime Minister in June 2004

8 million Iraqis vote to form the Iraqi National Assembly. The United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shiite politicians, wins the elections. Jalal Talabani is nominated as Iraq's first president in Jan 2005

  


Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein argues with prosecutors while testifying during cross-examination at his trial in Baghdad's Green Zone, April 5, 2006

Saddam Hussein is executed(hanged) for crimes against humanity on December 30, 2006 

President Obama pledged to withdraw all American troops from Iraq by December, 2011. The first draw out would be 142,000 in April 2009 , leaving roughly 50,000 "transitional forces" remaining 

President Barack Obama officially announced  the end to the Iraq combat mission "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in a national address from the Oval Office in Aug 2010

U.S. Army armored vehicles are seen as they wait to be shipped to the next destination after they exited from Iraq on December 14, 2011 at Camp Virginia, near Kuwait City, Kuwait.





 Barack Obama meets Iraqi PM as US exits Iraq - Dec 12,2011

President Barack Obama meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday Dec 12,2011 at the White House and hold talks with Maliki,have a press conference and join Maliki at nearby Arlington National Cemetery where many of the nearly 4,500 US war dead lie buried following the 2003 US invasion.