(Bloomberg)
-- The last of Britain’s combat troops finished military operations in Iraq today, ending a six-year deployment at their base near Basra in the south of the country. troops at their home base....... About 400 British personnel will stay on after today, mainly to help train the Iraqi navy.
not without cost:
The war cost 179 British lives.
...The war and occupation of Iraq had cost the U.K. 6.5 billion pounds ($10.3 billion) as of March 2008, according to the Ministry of Defense.
And what about the good ole US of A? The Army Chief of Staff may have shot his mouth off....see below....
About 140,000 U.S. military personnel remain in the country as a whole, a figure that is set to drop by about 12,000 by September.
The Obama administration plans to remove all troops by the end of 2011 as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government. Since the conflict began, 4,218 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.
Thanks for keeping 4,218 safe, Dick/Bush
and let's not mention the hundreds of thousands of young men and women injured and/or scarred emotionally.
However, Gen. Casey announced that the army, at least, is "prepared" to stay for many years:
Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff, said Tuesday his planning envisions combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S. commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.
"Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction," Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works."
He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy analysts from Washington-based think-tanks.
Hmmm...Casey must have been trying to generate some good news for John McCain....
I'm thinking Gen. Casey may find a hot note in his inbox this morning from Rahm. Wasn't it just a month or two back when:
Mr Obama also had talks with Iraq's leaders, and confirmed his plans to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Methinks Rahm might want to inform the general about who won the presidential election.