الرئيسية
KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait (AP) — The last U.S. soldiers rolled out of
Iraq across the border into neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday,
whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and
relief. Their convoy's exit marked the end of a bitterly divisive war
that raged for nearly nine years and left Iraq shattered and struggling
to recover.
The war cost nearly 4,500 American and well more than
100,000 Iraqi lives and $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The
question of whether it was worth it all — or whether the new government
the Americans leave behind will remain a steadfast U.S. ally — is yet
unanswered.
The 5-hour drive by the last convoy of MRAPS, heavily
armored personnel carriers, took place under cover of darkness and under
strict secrecy to prevent any final attacks on the withdrawing troops.
The 500 soldiers didn't even tell their Iraqi partners they were leaving
before they slipped out of the last American base and started down the
barren desert highway to the Kuwaiti border before dawn Sunday.
The
atmosphere was subdued inside one of the vehicles as it streamed down
the highway, with little visible in the blackness outside through the
MRAP's small windows. Along the road, a small group of Iraqi soldiers
waved to the departing American troops.
"My heart goes out to the
Iraqis," said Warrant Officer John Jewell, acknowledging the challenges
ahead. "The innocent always pay the bill."
But after crossing the
berm at the Kuwaiti border, lit with floodlights and ringed with barbed
wire, the troops from the 3rd brigade of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division
were elated. They cheered, pumped fists in the air and gave each other
chest bumps and bear hugs. "We're on top of the world!" shouted one
soldier from the turret of his vehicle.
"It's just an honor to be
able to serve your country and say that you helped close out the war in
Iraq," said Spc. Jesse Jones, a 23-year-old who volunteered to be in the
last convoy. "Not a lot of people can say that they did huge things
like that that will probably be in the history books."
The quiet
withdrawal was a stark contrast to the high-octane start of the war,
which began before dawn on March 20, 2003, with an airstrike in southern
Baghdad where Saddam Hussein was believed to be hiding, the opening
shot in the famed "shock and awe" bombardment. U.S. and allied ground
forces then stormed from Kuwait across the featureless deserts of
southern Iraq toward the capital.
Iraq across the border into neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday,
whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and
relief. Their convoy's exit marked the end of a bitterly divisive war
that raged for nearly nine years and left Iraq shattered and struggling
to recover.
The war cost nearly 4,500 American and well more than
100,000 Iraqi lives and $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The
question of whether it was worth it all — or whether the new government
the Americans leave behind will remain a steadfast U.S. ally — is yet
unanswered.
The 5-hour drive by the last convoy of MRAPS, heavily
armored personnel carriers, took place under cover of darkness and under
strict secrecy to prevent any final attacks on the withdrawing troops.
The 500 soldiers didn't even tell their Iraqi partners they were leaving
before they slipped out of the last American base and started down the
barren desert highway to the Kuwaiti border before dawn Sunday.
The
atmosphere was subdued inside one of the vehicles as it streamed down
the highway, with little visible in the blackness outside through the
MRAP's small windows. Along the road, a small group of Iraqi soldiers
waved to the departing American troops.
"My heart goes out to the
Iraqis," said Warrant Officer John Jewell, acknowledging the challenges
ahead. "The innocent always pay the bill."
But after crossing the
berm at the Kuwaiti border, lit with floodlights and ringed with barbed
wire, the troops from the 3rd brigade of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division
were elated. They cheered, pumped fists in the air and gave each other
chest bumps and bear hugs. "We're on top of the world!" shouted one
soldier from the turret of his vehicle.
"It's just an honor to be
able to serve your country and say that you helped close out the war in
Iraq," said Spc. Jesse Jones, a 23-year-old who volunteered to be in the
last convoy. "Not a lot of people can say that they did huge things
like that that will probably be in the history books."
The quiet
withdrawal was a stark contrast to the high-octane start of the war,
which began before dawn on March 20, 2003, with an airstrike in southern
Baghdad where Saddam Hussein was believed to be hiding, the opening
shot in the famed "shock and awe" bombardment. U.S. and allied ground
forces then stormed from Kuwait across the featureless deserts of
southern Iraq toward the capital.