Are we really out of Iraq? by Charity Maness

I, for one, was thrilled that our troops were coming home from Iraq. But did anyone really think it would be that simple?

We still have thousands of American men and women serving in Iraq...not from the Department of Defense...but from the State Department.

The small military presence left in Iraq under the Obama administrations plan is limited to several hundred officers located at embassy offices assisting Iraqis with purchasing equipment and placing equipment in the field. However, what is left out of this equation is the 6,000 to 7,000 State Department workers that were deployed to fill the void when the US Army left Iraq.

US formally Ends Iraq War

By REBECCA SANTANA

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD — There was no "Mission Accomplished" banner. No victory parade down the center of this capital scarred and rearranged by nearly nine years of war. No crowds of cheering Iraqis grateful for liberation from Saddam Hussein.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool The US Forces Iraq colors are lowered before being encased in a ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec., 15, 2011. The ceremonies mark the official end of the US military mission in Iraq. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)

The US Forces Iraq colors are lowered before being encased in a ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec., 15, 2011. The ceremonies mark the official end of the US military mission in Iraq. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool US Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, right, walks across tarmac with Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, left, Commander of US Forces Iraq, during his arrival at Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec., 15, 2011. Panetta is participating in the ceremonies marking the end of the US military mission in Iraq. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Poo US Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, second from the left, and Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey, far left, during the encasing of the US Forces Iraq colors, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec., 15, 2011. The ceremonies mark the official end of the US military mission in Iraq. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)

Instead, the U.S. military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday with a businesslike closing ceremony behind blast walls in a fortified compound at Baghdad airport. The flag used by U.S. forces in Iraq was lowered and boxed up in a 45-minute ceremony. No senior Iraqi political figures attended.

With that, and brief words from top American officials who flew in under tight security still necessary because of the ongoing violence in Iraq, the U.S. drew the curtain on a war that left 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqis dead.

The conflict also left another 32,000 Americans and far more Iraqis wounded, drained more than $800 billion from America's treasury and soured a majority of Americans on a war many initially supported as a just extension of the fight against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.