Last U.S. combat convoy has left Iraq

Mosul, Iraq (CNN) -- The last U.S. brigade combat team has left Iraq, leaving about 56,000 U.S. troops in the country, according to the U.S. military.
The troops in the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division crossed the border into Kuwait from Iraq 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.

The brigade departed more than a day ago, but the announcement was delayed for security reasons.

Another 6,000 U.S. troops must leave Iraq to meet President Barack Obama's September 1 deadline for the end of U.S. combat operations in the country and the beginning of Operation New Dawn, where U.S. forces are expected to play an advise-and-assist role.

A public information officer at Fort Lewis, 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."
"We're keeping the promise that we've made when I began my campaign for the presidency," U.S. President Barack 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."

As they prepared to depart, some soldiers laughed, 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.
In a posting on whitehouse.gov, Obama said Wednesday 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.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/18/iraq.combat.convoy/index.html?hpt=P1&iref=NS1