Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, well ahead of President Barack Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there.
Of course, the 50,000 US forces that will be in Iraq after this month include training brigades--six, I believe--that are essentially combat brigades beefed up with extra personnel for training and liaisson missions with the Iraqis.
The troops remaining have a lot to do yet to make this a "mission accomplished" moment in a string of missions accomplished yet to be achieved in Iraq.
Don't rest. Drive on.
UPDATE: My memory is correct--six advise and assist brigades remain:
By the end of this month, the United States will have six brigades in Iraq, by far its smallest footprint since the 2003 invasion. Those that remain are conventional combat brigades reconfigured slightly and rebranded "advise and assist brigades." The primary mission of those units and the roughly 4,500 U.S. special operations forces that will stay behind will be to train Iraqi troops. Under a bilateral agreement, all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011.
Ultimately, I assume we and the Iraqis will negotiate a deal beyond 2011 that allows a smaller American presence that still deters foreign conventional threats, assists in hunting remaining terrorists, and reinforces the habit of domestic politicians to rely on ballots and not bullets to decide questions of who holds power.
