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Photography by Joe Raedle / Getty Images
U.S. Army Spc. Matthew Carpenter, left, from Conway Ark. and Pfc. Thomas Adgate from LaMarque, Texas of the 2-82 Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, participate in what will be their last mass casualty drill, Dec. 2, at Camp Adder as the Army continues to send its soldiers and equipment home and the base is prepared to be handed back to the Iraqi government later this month at Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah, Iraq. The United States military continues its pullout of the country by the end of this year, after eight years of war and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Camp Adder is also known as Tallil Air Base. The massive military complex was heavily damaged by coalition bombing missions during the Gulf War in 1991, and it has been used by several coalition groups since the second Iraq war ended. U.S. forces are scheduled to return the base to Iraqi control later this month.
I’m happy to see more and more soldiers coming out of Iraq. Seeing all of the homecoming videos popping up on youtube is the best part. It’s easy to spend a whole day watching them.
However, I struggle to find any meaning in the war as I look at Joe Raedle’s pictures. In the end, maybe we’ve simply learned to appreciate the people who were willing to serve while the rest of us enjoyed the comforts of home. I hope the country can “support the troops” with good veterans’ benefits and an economy that provides some decent jobs for returning solders.
Left: Captain Bishop Sparks from West Palm Beach, Fla. gathers his soldiers together on Friday to let them know when they are heading home.
Right: Specialist Sirlen Arriaza, left, from Indianapolis and Private First Class Michael Carter from Orlando, Fla. wrap up a 50 caliber machine gun as they prepare to ship it back to the United States on Dec. 1, 2011.
Left: Soldiers from the 2-82 Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, push a tire into a shipping container as they pack up their equipment.
Right: Lt. Adam Pettus, from Tulsa, Okla. has the laundry room to himself as he washes clothes in a near-empty Camp Adder on Dec. 2, 2011.
Left: Soldiers from the 2-82 Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, play a game of basketball on Friday as they relax before leaving Camp Adder .
Right: Sergeant Jeffrey Merrick from Columbus, Ohio pulls cases of equipment to a shipping container on Dec. 2, as his unit packs its equipment in preparation for leaving Camp Adder.
An empty bus stop is seen in Camp Adder on Dec. 2.
Vice President Joe Biden talks to TODAY's Ann Curry about the war in Iraq as he wraps up his final visit to the war-torn country before the U.S. military's withdrawal at the end of the year.
Related story: End of an era as US military hands Camp Victory to Iraqis
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My friends staying back are mainly just continuing to train/monitor their Iraqi counterparts. They're not really even supposed to offer "assistance" in any official capacity if what is being handed down is true. I'll believe that when I see it.
The mistake has been made by Baby Bush and America paid dearly (4,500+ young lives lost, 22,000+ American bodies broken and bruised, 1+ trillion USD wasted, America's worldly image tainted, and so on). The cleanup has commenced by Barack (jewish name) Hussein (arabic name) Obama (african name) and the nightmare will be over by 12/31/11. Why are we arguing among ourselves and blaming each other and even faulting Papa Bush. By the way, Papa Bush did not go to Desert Storm in order to take out Saddam. His mission was to chase the Iraquis out of Kuwait. He accomplished his mission 100 percent and brought our troops home. To me, Papa Bush is a great patriot and a smart president. Clinton kept up the degrading of Saddam's war making capabilities through the no-fly zone process that began right after the Desert Storm. Reports coming out of Iraq indicated it worked and Iraq was a shaddow of itself militarily when Baby Bush went in looking for WMD's that weren't there. Thank you, everybody!
History needs to know the truth about American leaders who falsely accused foreign leader(s) of possessing WMD, without which, America is the only big power who can bully any nation into submission, this is in defiance of the UN charter, which was setup to prevent the Germans killing the Jews during the 2nd World War. We should not get ourselves into the Middle East wars at all. It is their own countries, just let them cut their hands off or heads off.
Just a bit of history David, the UN was established after the end of WW 2, so it's Charter had nothing to do with stopping Hitler from trying to exterminates the Jews in Europe, he was quite dead by the time it was written
Libs like Dave just make it up as they go along hoping no one will notice how full of crap they are.
thats whwt there doing there suppose to be observing them but we have to wait and see
ok sya thats correct what you just said our fight was with afgan not iraq so why go there picking a fight
Just pure crap to have lost 6000 kids for such a Bush disaster!
Now we're up to 6000. More liberal crap from the left.
Now get the hell out of Afganistan!
Auto sales at our big three are up big
Holiday shopping up big
Unemployment down a little
The stock market is in record territory
and tens of thousands of the finest military members in the world are coming home for Christmas
Who could want more for Christmas! A Daddy or a Mommy would do! A brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, and a child home for Christmas. The most wonderful thing about it.
Look at commander trying to campairn for Obama.
Stock market isn't even near Bush era levels.
Troops are coming home per Bush time table.
Unemployment #'s are seasonal hires and 350,000 dropping off the roles.
When are the Big 3 gonna pay us back?
You're a knucklehead commander.
whats the rush where probably going to pakistan next
Hooray! I hope the soldiers do not leave anything behind that someone else can use against another. Too many times we have left things that others have used against us. Bring that equipment that the taxpayers paid for home, ladies and gentlemen. I am glad these soldiers are coming home. Many who have served in Iraq have been from Mississippi. Many of them were National Guardsmen and Army Reserves. I am just dang out proud of their commission and for all of them to be home for Christmas. But turning to All Viet Nam Veterans, POW's and for those who died, I give you a great honor. I am very very grateful for your service. Why? Because you are my generation. You are the SECOND GREATEST GENERATION. Thanks!
There is no honor in killing Children and women in Iraq. Our soldiers would probably end up with the homeless and die in our dirty backyards. Our country is broke, our leaders are corrupt, and there is no job for soldiers coming home, not for the next 20 years.
I'm not proud and there are many of us who feel the same for what we have allowed to happen. Taking of souvenir fingers cut off dead Iraq civilians is nothing to be proud of!
........a couple of America haters........David and clywd
I can only say that Antiwar's hard fight paid off; they will be no further occupation of a sovereign country after this year. We won; we ended this invasion and the Iraqis have a sovereign country again.
It was NEVER our war. It was Daddy and Son's personal issue. Good that we are learning hard way.
.....only liberal idiots believe that. Our government isn't set up for Family Feuds to pick fights with other countries to settle scores.
Get a brain.
.
At last an end to the waste of good Americans, killed and maimed in a war that should have never been started.
A huge waste of resources and moneys that should have been spent putting Americans to work building and repairing American infrastructure instead of doing this in Iraq.
Bush's legacy: his trillion dollar war of personal revenge on Saddam for Saddam's 1993 death plot on Daddy Bush that may yet destroy the economy of the USA.
.
........another moron types.....
I guess Obama's 4 trillion is the "good" spending that won't hurt us at all.
Its about damn time. But this only means our troops will probably be moving rite next door, IRAN. Pull all the troops out of all the Middle East, let those Idiot Terrorists kill each other off, and bring our troops home so we can start defending our borders from the trash thats infiltrating us here.
Haven't any of you guys ever played Monopoly? We already took Iraq and Afghanistan. We just need Iran to complete the set. Then we put up hotels and charge the hell out of Russia, India, and China when ever they land on it. That's how you fix the economy. God, don't any of you 99 percenters learn this stuff in college anymore?
Fact is all weapons Saddam had he loaded them up on rail cars and sent them back to russia before we invaded ...Theres a few small depots just inside russia that got very busy ...
We never should have packed up to go there in the first place based on lies form our then president bush! 4,483 wasted American lives for nothing!
16,000 will still be there - in the new 'embassy' thats what they're calling it - this time around. BTW the new embassy is larger than the Taj mahal.
And oh- another 4,500 in a Blackwater style strike force, will keep up those night strikes and terror runs on the civies (you won't see that on T.V.)
MSN kinda forgot to mention those facts. (expected)
They (MSN) try not to dwell too much on conspiracy theories for the stupid based on a couple rare events several years ago.
For far leftists, the fact that the US veterans who make up most of the Blackwater guard force were involved in a couple shooting incidents in Iraq after convoys they protected had been shot at constantly for years, means that there's some vast, ongoing "assault on civilians".
You know, play up rare events and try to make it seem like it's the standard, regular, everyday thing. Make the American security guards look bad and not the murderers killing people every day. The usual liberal traitorous stuff.
(left) = someone who cares about innocents?
"a couple of shooting incidents" = that makes the death of innocents okay.
Chestypuller - I guess its conspiracy when it comes from the general's pie hole.
General Dempsey did not provide a number, although a military official later said there would be no more than 200 American military personnel in the country. Overall, there will be about 16,000 American Embassy personnel in Iraq, including a large number of civilian contractors as security guards. Currently there are some 24,000 American troops in Iraq.
At a sometimes heated hearing, both General Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta tried to counter criticism from Republicans on the panel that the Obama administration was abandoning Iraq, but also sought to make their case that any military personnel left behind would have limited roles.
______________________
4,500 security (A Black Water type of brigade) Renamed of course, to be forgotten until someone from that party decides enough is enough.
If it smells bad its because it is bad.
Where theres smoke theres fire.
Wikileaks was all conspiracy too thats why B. Manning is sitting in jail and Assange is being extradited to Sweden.
Q. Why do I bother responding to the uninformed?
A. Because they believe its all conspiracy.
Viva La Surge of 2007-08! Turned a quagmire into victory, and dropped casualties by 90% for Iraqi civilians and for us, from the tough days of 2006...casualties fell even farther in following years.
Hail Victory! Hail Bush! Hail Cheney.
WE CAME, WE SAW, WE CONQUERED.
Cleareye
If only Obama could ever admit he makes any mistakes would be nice but this terrorist muslim president never makes a mistake, just ask him. He is the weakest and worst president this country has ever seen and that includes Jimmy Carter. Now that is saying something. This pathetic so called human being must be impeached and put in jail for support fast and furious along with his atty general holder. Transparent my ass.
From the halls of Monte-zuuuuma,
To the shores of Tripo-liiiii,
We fight our country's ba-atles,
In the air, on land and seaaaa.
And we fight for right and freeeedom,
And to keep our honor cleeeeeean.
We are proud to bear the ti-ytle,
of United States Mariiiiiiiiine.
It's unfortunate with how much American Veterans sacrifice that our government wants to cut their health care benifits. It was bad enough that Military retirement pay got reduced during the Clinton years. Why doesn't our Congress and Executives ever discuss cutting their own pay and benifits? They have the best retirement plans of anyone in the country! But they'd rather take from those who have sacrificed the most! Just like those in our government are at the top 1% of the wealthy, those who've served in the military fill another 1%. Only 1% of the American population have ever served in the military - those low numbers make them a BIG target when it comes to the protection of their benifits when the government decides to rape them!
Rock on Obama!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama Blows !
Glad the troops are coming home. I wish Iraq well but I'm not holding my breath. As for Iran, it's only a matter of time before the US has to deal with them. They want to threaten our Israeli friends with harm we have to act. They want to threaten the US with some kind of harm we have to act. Anyone that has a problem with that really doesn't understand or appreciate the freedoms this vet and so many other like me have served their country to provide. I really don't give 2 @!$%#s what "Party" you may affiliate yourself with, makes no difference to the enemy pointing a gun to your head. Believe me they don't ask and I know first hand.
As for political types crying when they talk about soliders dying I feel it hopefully is an honest emotion. If not then shame on them but I'm not the one to judge them.
Now that the US has done the dirty work for Iran, they can now move in!
WHAT A DEAL!
Toyota3 - This pullout timetable for the troops in Iraq was set long before Obama was elected president. Just saying.