Spiritual Forum

Last U.S. combat convoy has left Iraq

Posted by Thomas Bischoff on August 19, 2010 at 9:05pm in Spirituality In General
From Arwa Damon, CNNAugust 19, 2010 -- Updated 1412 GMT (2212 HKT)Mosul, Iraq (CNN) -- The last U.S. brigade combat team in Iraq has left the country, a move that helps U.S. President Barack Obama reach his goal of 50,000 troops in the country by September 1.Their departure leaves about 56,000 U.S. troops in the country, according to the U.S. military.Capt. Christopher Ophardt, spokesman for the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, said the last of the 4,000 members of the unit crossed the border into Kuwait early Thursday.A few hundred members stayed behind to finish administrative and logistical duties but will fly out of Baghdad later Thursday, Ophardt said.Much of the brigade departed more than a day ago, but the announcement was delayed for security reasons.Tell us how the Iraq War has affected your lifeTheir departure comes more than seven years after U.S. combat forces entered, though their departure does not signify the end of all U.S. combat forces in the country.Another 6,000 U.S. troops must leave Iraq to meet Obama's deadline for the end of U.S. combat operations in the country and the beginning of Operation New Dawn, in which the remaining U.S. forces are expected to switch to an advise-and-assist role.--U.S. President Barack ObamaA public information officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, said it will take a few weeks for all of the 4-2's members to return home. "It is one flight at a time," she said. "We are expecting most of them to be home by mid-September."As they prepared to depart, some soldiers laughed and some expressed relief at having survived multiple deployments. A few reminisced about having endured firefights and helping carry the bodies of buddies off the field of battle. Many said they would never forget the war."The first time you get shot at, it's just, I mean, it wakes you up," said Sgt. Terry Wetzel, the company's senior sniper. "You think, before you come here, that you're an adult, that you're a grown man. But this place will change you."Wetzel said he was ready to go home. "I feel like we have done as much as we can do here now. It's pretty much up to the Iraqi army and Iraqi police and their government," he said. "We have helped them out as much as we can.""We put our blood, sweat and tears since we've been here for 12 months and we know we did our job and we know it's not going to be in vain, but there's a lot of excitement right now," said Spc. Don Lanpher as he prepared to depart."We're keeping the promise that we've made when I began my campaign for the presidency," Obama said Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, where he was attending a Democratic fundraiser. "By the end of this month ... our combat mission will be over in Iraq."Obama said that more than 90,000 U.S. troops have left Iraq in the past 18 months."And, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of next year," he said.Former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told CNN that the United States has plenty of work left to do in Iraq."Iraq is still at the beginning of the story of its evolution since 2003," he said, referring to the date of the U.S.-led invasion of the country. "As tired as many Americans may be, this process is still just at its beginning."In fact, Iraq remains without a functioning government, electricity and other utilities are available only sporadically in the capital, and violence appears to be increasing. At least 48 people were killed Tuesday outside a military recruiting center in Baghdad."We're going to have to leave a large footprint behind, and this is not going away for us as an issue," he said.The State Department is preparing to leave much of that footprint. It will handle many of the responsibilities currently shouldered by the military, increasing its security contractors from 2,700 to nearly 7,000, sources said.They are expected to work with diplomats and police trainers in some facilities.The State Department has asked for an additional $400 million to cover the costs, though it was not clear they would get it.The State Department has asked the U.S. military to leave behind surveillance systems, about 50 bomb-resistant vehicles and a few dozen UH-60 helicopters, a military official said. Though they got a lot of what they wanted, the Pentagon said it could not give them all the helicopters because they are needed in Afghanistan, the official said.According to the Pentagon, 4,419 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Adam Levine and Chris Lawrence contributed to this storyFrom:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/18/iraq.combat.convoy/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=PifJyFZZqYu&wom=false
Views: 20

You need to be a member of Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community to add comments!

Join Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community

Tags: iraq, us, combat, convoy
Email me when people reply –
Follow

Latest Discussion

Most Popular Discussion

Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives

Latest Activity

AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"We may have been going overboard with political comments a few months ago, but we had lively discussions with other topics sprinkled in here and there and always talk of ascension and other spiritual topics. Since when did seeking spiritual…"
16 minutes ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"Not talking politix, but how about adding £36M, to £36M and arriving at a Reform sexagesimal computation, of what amounts to a £72 Million (72,000,000) party donation....?? NICE..!!🤑...and most welcome, thanks...𒐙𒌍𒐗𒑱𒑊𒑊Live long and prosper...!!🖖🏻…"
3 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
Chris Bledsoe Says “The Lady” Showed Him a Vision of an Israel-Iran Nuclear Crisis—Then the Sky Filled With Orbs; By Vicky Verma | Source.
Posted on 09/12/2026 by EraOfLight — 2 Comments ↓ Chris Bledsoe has spent nearly two decades telling people that the strange glowing orbs around him are not extraterrestrial spacecraft in the conventional sense. He believes they are connected…
See More
9 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
This is the Time of Quantum Healing; By Patricia Cota Robles | Source.
Posted on 09/12/2026 by EraOfLight — Leave a reply The Company of Heaven is revealing that with the awesome influxes of Light we experienced during the Opening of the Lion’s Gate and the August 2026 Eclipse Series, Humanity en masse is now…
See More
10 hours ago
Justin89636 left a comment on Comment Wall
"No worries I was not yelling at you Vlada or anybody else. I just saw the political comments posted from AE earlier on the wall and I was just questioning why we are even talking politics on here anymore. Of course people can talk politics if they…"
13 hours ago
Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ.. ኔጡ። commented on AlternateEarth's blog post Anthropic's Warning: Could AI Become a Threat to Humanity?
"It's crazy alright when on one hand you have countries protecting teenagers from being online in certain sites protecting them from whats on them like facebook, tic tok & instagram & limiting their time on them and then on the other hand you have…"
14 hours ago
Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ.. ኔጡ። left a comment on Comment Wall
"My apologies Justin I was just responding to the link that AE had posted, as I couldn't believe Trump would do such a thing, and that its kinda bribing them to vote isn't it and it's illegal. I didn't know you'd given up on Trump,.. but have the…"
14 hours ago
Justin89636 left a comment on Comment Wall
"Why are we still talking politics on here? Thought we were done with that. Trump has proven he sucks ass and is useless just like the rest of them. Dumbest thing I did was think he was going to be different. Safe to say him being in the political…"
18 hours ago
More…

New Blog Posts