1 of 6. U.S. air force plane sitting on the last flight air force of Ali air base in the vicinity of Nasiriyah, on the way to Kuwait 17 December 2011.
By Patrick Markey and Joseph Logan
Baghdad (Reuters) - the last convoy of US soldiers moved the Iraq on Sunday, ending nearly nine years of war, costs almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and left a country is still grappling with the political uncertainty.
The war in March 2003 with missiles striking Baghdad dictator Saddam Hussein plunge in life launched concludes with a fragile democracy ahead of insurgent, sectarian tensions and the challenge of defining its place in the Arab region.
The last column of about 100 mostly U.S. military MRAP armored vehicles for the transport of 500 US troops then through the southern Iraq desert through the night on an empty Highway and the Kuwaiti border.
Their horns have the border honking, the last batch of around 25 of American military trucks and tractor trailers Bradley fighting vehicles crossed early on Sunday, their crews colleagues waving troops along the route.
"I just can't wait to call my wife and my kids and let them know that I am sure,", said Rodolfo Ruiz as the limit in sight. Soon after, he told his men, which was the mission, "made Hey guys, there."
For President Barack Obama the military withdrawal, is that the fulfillment of a campaign promise to home troops from a collision of its predecessor, the most unpopular war since Viet Nam and one inherited, America's worldwide are corrupted.
Preferred for Iraqis U.S. departure a sense brings the sovereignty but nagging fears, which again can push their country in the kind of sectarian violence that killed thousands of people at its peak in 2006-2007.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Shi 'Ite-led Government still agreement between Shi fights with a delicate power-sharing' ite, Kurdish and Sunni parties, so that Iraq exposed to interference by Sunni Arab Nations and Shi Shi'ite Iran.
The intensity of violence and suicide bombings subsided. But a stubborn Sunni Islamist uprising and rival Shi Shi'ite militias still a threat, carrying out almost daily attacks on Iraqi Government and security officials.
Iraq says its forces can contain the violence, but lack of skills in areas such as such as air defence and gather intelligence. A deal for several thousand US troops as a coach was to stay on the thorny issue of legal immunity.
For many Iraqis, security remains a custody but no longer as jobs and get access to its network power in a country of electricity per day despite massive oil potential in the OPEC countries contains only a few hours.
"We believe about America not..." We think about electricity, jobs, our oil, our daily problems, "said Abbas Jaber, an employee of the Government in Baghdad." "they left chaos."
AFTER HOME
After Obama in October as planned, the number of US military bases was announced that troops would be home by the end of the year down rapidly as hundreds of troops and trucks carrying equipment cut South of the Kuwaiti border.
US armed forces combat forces had finished in the year 2010, paid a $100,000 to secure month by tribal sheikhs extends South to reduce the risk of roadside bombings of leading highways and attacks on the last convoys.
At the height of the war, more than 170,000 U.S. troops in the Iraq were more than 500 bases. Saturday there were less than 3,000 troops and a base.
COB Adder as dusk before the departure of the last convoy, a group of soldiers fell to defeated barbecue sauce plates of ribs from Kuwait brought and put them to grills next to hot dogs and sausages.
The last troops to the lights, studding MRAP vehicles flicked and stacked flak jackets and helmets in neat piles, ready for the definitive departure for Kuwait and then home.
"A good piece of me is happy to leave." I spent 31 months in this country, "said Sgt. Steven Schirmer, 25, after three tours of Iraq since 2007."it seems almost, that I can now get a life, even though I know, I'll probably after Afghanistan in 2013."" "As soon as these wars I finish question me what I do at the end is."
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
United States and foreign companies are already Iraq which help potential develop the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, but its economy requires investments in all sectors, hospitals, infrastructure.
Iran and Turkey, major investors in the Iraq is just with Gulf Nations to see how it its sectarian and ethnic tensions handles how the crisis in the neighbouring Syria threatens to spill beyond its borders.
The fall of Saddam allows the long oppressed to rise Shi Shi'ite majority to power. The Shiite-led Government drew the country of closer to neighbouring Iran and Syria's Bashar al-Assad, who struggles to a nine month uprising to put down.
Iraq's Sunni minority are chafing at what they see as the
increasingly authoritarian control Maliki Shi Shi'ite coalition. Some local leaders push already predominantly Sunni provinces to demand more autonomy from Baghdad.
The main Sunni political bloc, the Iraqiya on Saturday, said that it to the temporary his participation in the Parliament was suspended against what she said to protest was Maliki unwillingness to deliver on the power-sharing.
A dispute between the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and the Maliki government about oil and the area is also brewers and potential flash point is after the buffer of the US military presence has disappeared.
"There is before beating little, that the Government of Iraq verwalten-- or help-even from the present impasse ready will be", said Gala Riani, analyst at IHS global insight.
"The perennial divisive issues that are as part of the structure of Iraqi politics, such as departments with Kurdistan and Sunni suspicions of the Government, also probably continue."
(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal, writing of Patrick Markey;) (Editing by Tim Pearce)
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