Breaking News: Final US Combat forces in Iraq crossing border into Kuwait, NBC News reports
Keith Olbermann just reported the news at 6:29 during the Ed Show that the last American Combat troops will be gone from Iraq by within the hour. The 42nd Striker Brigade will be the last to leave Iraq. There are 440 American Troops from the 42nd Stryker Brigade who are driving at this moment toward Kuwait and Richard Engle from NBC and MSNBC, is reporting that they are thirty miles from the border as of 6:45pm (EDT).
This is a huge cause for celebration.
*************The Iraq war is finally over!***************
There will still be 50,000 US troops remaining in Iraq to provide support and continue training in what is being called a non-combat roll.
From The MSNBC Website
NEAR THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER — The last U.S. combat troops were crossing the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W. Bush and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead.
The final convoy of the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., were about to enter Kuwait shortly after 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Wednesday ET), carrying the last of the 14,000 U.S. combat forces in Iraq, said NBC’s Richard Engel, who has been traveling with the brigade as it moved out this week.
(snip)
The timing of the final departure was a closely held secret, occurring in dramatic fashion two weeks ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline President Barack Obama had set to withdraw combat forces and close Operation Iraqi Freedom, which the U.S.-led multinational coalition began March 20, 2003, in the belief that Hussein possessed an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that threatened the West.
In a statement, Obama called the troops’ withdrawal a "milestone in the Iraq war" and said, "I hope you’ll join me in thanking them, and all of our troops and military families, for their service."
At one point, the United States had blanketed the country with nearly a quarter-million-strong combat force; by the end of the month, Obama said, about 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in the country, in a non-combat role providing support and training for the Iraqi military.
Christopher R. Hill, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, said it was now Iraq’s responsibility to form a stable long-term government and Washington’s responsibility to "see Iraq as a country and not as a war."
MSNBC is now reporting that they are exclusively covering the exit of the troops through the rest of the evening. Rachel Maddow is reporting from the "former green zone" now called "The International zone."
If you can get to a TV that has MSNBC to watch this, it is historic.
It's finally OVER!!!!
Now can we get finished with Afghanistan????? PLEASE???????
Update Video here
And the Transcript from NBC NEWS:
Brian Williams: Good evening. It's gone on longer than the civil war, longer than World War II. Tonight, US. combat troops are pulling out of Iraq. It's been about seven and a half years since that first late- night air strike decimated the Iraqi government and lit up American television screens. Saddam Hussein is dead. The Iraqi government is still taking tentative steps and the toll on the united states has been substantial. 4,415 American service members died in Iraq. Close to 32,000 Americans wounded. we watched the invasion happen on live television thanks to some brand new, at the time, exclusive technology. And tonight, once again, we watch the pullout of these combat troops the very same way. though as you watch, remember, 50,000 Americans in uniform will remain behind in Iraq in what's being called a noncombat role. Our chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has covered this war for many years for us. with us from a moving convoy in the Iraqi desert tonight. I understand your reporting of this constitutes the official pentagon announcement, correct?
Richard Engel: Yes, it is. Right now we are with the last American combat troops and they are in the process of leaving this country right now. We are with the 42 striker brigade. I'm broadcasting right now live from the top of a striker fighting vehicle. There are 440 American troops in this convoy traveling in -- as soon as they cross the border into Kuwait and it is not far to the border. Just about 30 miles from here. as soon as all these soldiers leave Iraq, operation Iraqi freedom, the combat mission in Iraq, will be over. Combat soldiers from the 4th striker brigade suit up tonight for their final mission. their vehicles are all pointing south to Kuwait. They head out in darkness. The soldiers have just left Camp Liberty in Baghdad. It's about 2:00 in the morning. They will be driving for seven hours in the night. Then take a break before pushing on to the border. The troops scan the roads, but it's mostly a precaution. The threat of attack is considered low. Sunrise comes early here, just 5:00 a.m. They have been driving through the night. Daylight gives us our first clear view of the road. The strikers are traveling on Iraq's main north-south highway, smooth blacktop. What a difference to how American troops entered Iraq. In 2003, American forces crashed through the desert to stay unpredictable to the Iraqi army. Also different today, the helicopters over the convoy aren't there to provide over ds overwatch. They're carrying reporters, flying low to take pictures. Our video is broadcast by a satellite truck we call the blue mobi mobile. It was named after David Bloom. In 2003, Bloom used it to do the first live television reports ever from a moving battlefield. Sadly, bloom died of a blood clot before reaching Baghdad. On the convoy today, lieutenant Steven Dewitt from San Jose, California, knows he's taking part in a turning point for American troops and the United States.
Lt Dewitt: You didn't really grasp how important it was. You know, how big a deal this actually was to be driving out of here, you know, as the last combat battalion in Iraq. It feels pretty good to be a part of it right now.
Richard Engel: We're driving down a main highway in and amongst traffic.
Lt Dewitt: Exactly. You see, you know, even a year and a half ago, two years ago you wouldn't have had traffic passing a convoy.
Richard Engel: For the last few days the lights of striker vehicles have been breaking the darkness as they cross into Kuwait. A brigadier general standing to salute every arriving soldier.
Lt Dewitt: We're going home!
Lt Dewitt: To cross the border and know I have made it with all my guys which I could not say before is a tremendously good feeling.
Richard Engel: Some second thoughts from this private who just became a U.S. citizen while serving in Baghdad.
Lt Dewitt: It's kind of sad because we've got a bond between the people in Iraq.
Richard Engel: Finally, time to take off their flak jackets and break down their weapons and pause to take in a moment of history. We are traveling quite quickly to the border, Brian. We're moving around 45 miles per hour. So this vehicle and the rest of the convoy should be through into Kuwait in just a couple of hours and quite appropriately, Brian, this mission is code named "The Last Patrol."
Brian Williams: We realize your signal is dicey. It's a lot to ask technically, but we'll try to keep it going while we can. What about those left behind and the situation now in your rear-view mirror back in Iraq? A lot of Americans will be asking under what possible conditions would American soldiers ever go back in?
Richard Engel: The soldiers that are staying behind are on a training mission, and the difference is these soldiers right now are on a combat mission. They have combat power. If the orders came -- and they would have to come quickly now -- to send these troops to take an objective, to take a town, they would do that. That is what they are in Iraq to do. The 50,000 that will remain will be working mostly in offices, teaching basic skills to the Iraqi army and police. They don't have the mandate to go out into a fight. Sure, there might still be some fighting if American trainers do get shot at. They will fight back, but they will not be doing combat missions, trying to take objectives. That's what these soldiers do, and they're leaving.
And Iraq has always had two-lane paved highways with painted markers and road signs, but it's not the way the US came in. It must be an eerie feeling to be the way the combat forces are leaving.
Richard Engel: It is a very strange experience, particularly when we were driving earlier in the daylight hours and vehicles were moving in and around the convoy. When the invasion began in '03 there was so such secrecy. They were going through the desert to make sure no one knew where they were going to be going. We are getting waved at by Iraqi police. People lined up along -- around the convoy. A completely different experience. It almost felt like we were a line of taxis headed out of Iraq.