US Iraq Footprint Shrinks Further

We have seen shock and awe, and every possible twist turn and brutality in between, and just like that, poof landmarks we think will last for ever just vanish, from the NY TIMES:

Perhaps it is inevitable, the way momentous beginnings have small endings.The destruction of the Salam Palace was big, wrecked by the Americans as they invaded in 2003 and established the Green Zone. With the yet-to-be-rebuilt palace as its backdrop, the ceremony Tuesday to mark the formal American withdrawal from the last checkpoints it helped staff in the zone was a subdued affair.

“I promise to be short because of the heat,” Brig. Gen. Joseph DiSalvo, the deputy chief of staff for United States forces here, told the troops gathered before him. The words that followed were familiar these days: freedom, democracy and praise for their work with Iraqi forces. So was the farewell.“Say, ‘Job well done,’ ” he concluded.

On another note, this highlights a trend where the Afghan conflict has finally overtaken the Iraq war in size and deployment of US and allied troops. As of today there US 95,000 troops stationed in Iraq and over 127,000 US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.