Last U.S. Troops Leave Iraq, Ending Bloodiest U.S. War Since Vietnam
By NICK SCHIFRIN (@nickschifrin)
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2011
In the end, there was no decisive battle, no peace treaty. The United States bloodiest conflict since Vietnam ended with a border crossing.
After nearly nine years, $800 billion, 4,500 American dead and an estimated 100,000 Iraqi dead, the war in Iraq is over -- at least for the U.S. military. At just after 7:30 a.m. local, the last U.S. combat troops crossed from Iraq into Kuwait along the same roads the United States used to invade the country in 2003.