Over the next two months, tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq will pack up their gear and head home, ending nine years of war and a painful era of American history.
Under the terms of a 2008 bilateral security pact, about 39,000 U.S. soldiers and 38,500 private contractors employed by the Pentagon are scheduled to leave Iraq before the year is out, emptying the last 15 U.S. military bases in the country.
The withdrawal ends a military occupation which, at its height, saw 170,000 U.S. soldiers in 505 bases in Iraq as recently as 2007.
In some quarters, the troop drawdown is regarded as an admission of defeat and a politically expedient end to a highly unpopular and costly war. In others, it is regarded as a recalibration of American military might — a mere adaptation to shifting priorities and threats.
Despite the pending troop withdrawals in Iraq and those in Afghanistan between now and 2014, the United States remains a superpower on a scale not seen since the days of the Caesars.
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