The End to the US Combat Mission in Iraq

The flag of command was lowered, and then it was over.

A ceremony Thursday in Baghdad marked the end of the US combat mission in Iraq, which lasted more than 8 years and 8 months.

President Barack Obama  announced the end of the combat mission in Iraq in August. He addressed the troops while at Fort Bragg on Wednesday saying, "the war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages," the Huffington Post reported.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attended the flag-lowering ceremony, according to a CNN report.

"After a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real," he said. "Nor will we ever forget the sacrifices of the more than one million men and women of the United States armed forces who served in Iraq, and the sacrifices of their families."

The war claimed the lives of nearly 4,500 Americans.  Among them were two soliders from Oconee County: Army Spc. Benyahmin B. Yahudah, killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad on July 13, 2005, and Army Spc. Joshua H. Reeves, killed in action in Baghdad on Sept. 22, 2007 when an improvised explosive device detonated.

More than 30,000 were wounded and over 1.5 million served in the war, Obama said.

The US will continue to provide civilian assistance, but all troops will leave Iraq by Dec. 31.

How do you feel about the troops leaving Iraq and the formal end to the US combat mission?