Us Iraq War over ? The US standard flag was lowered in a military base in Baghdad during a ceremony full of self-praise for what US President Barrack Obama described in Front Bragg as extraordinary successes in this Arab nation.
Baghdad / NationalTurk – The US flag was lowered in Baghdad in a theatrical ceremony, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end and leaving behind a devastated country with over 100,000 deaths plus 4500 dead US soldiers.
At the ceremony, US defense secretary Leon Panetta congratulated officers and troops for the big sacrifice made by about 1.5 million army soldiers since March 2003 when the invasion to Iraq began to defeat Saddam Hussein.
Panetta, who travelled from Afghanistan to preside over the ceremony, said the Iraq operation has resulted in a lot of blood spilt and money spent.
A small group of soldiers will remain in Iraq as members of the security personnel of the US embassy in Baghdad with nearly 16,000 people.
There are about 200 military advisors and private contractors training the Iraqi forces.
For his part, Iraqui Parliament President Osama Al Nujaifi considered it illogical for such an enormous amount of nearly 16,000 workers to remain in the US embassy after the formal withdrawal, and urged the government to respond to this fact forcefully.
Al Nujaifi announced that the parliament will call on Prime Minister Al-Maliki to inform about the results of his recent visit to Washington after the November 11 statements of the Islamic Supreme Council led by Ammar Al-Hakim.
The council said that the large number of US workers is an excuse to keep that huge number of soldiers in the country; they are now using other means to stay in Iraq, added Al-Hakim.
Us Iraq Occupation over : Toll 4500 US soldiers lives, 100000 Iraqis perished
The Pentagon has had up to 170,000 men in more than 500 military bases n Iraq; some 4,500 of them were killed, the majority as a result of attacks by the resistance in a period during which 100,000 Iraquis were killed and countless people were injured.
The invasion and occupation, which also left 30,000 US soldiers wounded, displaced 1.75 millions Iraqis and exacerbated sectarian violence that the country is still facing despite the decline since 2006 and 2007, the most violent years.
President Obama claimed that the withdrawal responded to the commitment to leave Iraq “more sovereign, stable and self-sufficient”, but it was in fact forced by the failure of negotiations for the local parliament to grant judicial immunity to US troops.
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