‘Mission over’ as final US troop convoy leaves Iraq

THE last convoy of US soldiers pulled out of Iraq yesterday, ending nearly nine years of war that cost almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and left a country grappling with political uncertainty.

The war, launched in March 2003 with missiles striking Baghdad to oust president Saddam Hussein, closes with a fragile democracy still facing insurgents, sectarian tensions and the challenge of defining its place in an Arab region in turmoil.

The final column of around 100 military MRAP armoured vehicles carrying 500 US troops trundled across the southern Iraq desert from their last base through the night and daybreak along an empty highway to the Kuwaiti border.