The seemingly coordinated explosions Thursday struck during the height of morning rush hour, hitting a number of Baghdad’s primarily mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods. Nine car bombs, six roadside bombs and a mortar round all went off in a two-hour period, targeting residential, commercial and government districts in the Iraqi capital, police said.

“The series of special invasions launched, under the guidance of the Ministry of War in the Islamic State of Iraq, to support the weak Sunnis in the prisons of the apostates and to retaliate for the captives who were executed,” the group said on an al Qaeda website.

Iraq’s leadership is dominated by Shiite Muslims, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The country’s Sunni minority held power under former leader Saddam Hussein.

A recent political crisis has raised fears of a return of the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq that ripped the country apart at the height of the war a few years back.

On December 19, al-Maliki, a Shiite, ordered the arrest of the Sunni vice president, a move that escalated sectarian tensions and threatened to collapse Iraq’s fragile power-sharing government.

The political turmoil as well as the recent spate of violence erupted just days after the final U.S. troops withdrew.

Violence in Iraq has declined in recent years but last week’s attacks were among the worst since August when a series of coordinated bombings killed at least 75 people in 17 Iraqi cities.

Loubna, a Homs resident who asked that her full name not be used for security reasons, said she saw security forces shoot tear gas and bullets at protesters at Clock Square in downtown Homs, where thousands gathered. She saw seven injured people, said dozens were arrested, and she and others ran for safety in nearby houses.

Danielle Moussa saw a similar sight in the city’s northeast neighborhood of Khalidiah, where thousands of people gathered. “I saw several get shot and I ran,” he said. Moussa is an opposition activist whose group was working to retrieve bodies.

Loubna said thousands in Khalidiah left for Clock Square because they heard Arab League observers were at the downtown location, also the site of the city’s police headquarters and several government buildings.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group with contacts across the country, reported gunfire near the volatile Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr. It said security forces fired at people attending a funeral for those killed on Monday.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist network, reported “heavy gunfire and the presence of snipers aiming at everything that moves in the orchards of Baba Amr and Jober.”

Protesters turned up en masse on Tuesday. Around 35,000 protesters turned up in the neighborhood of Khalidiah, the LCC said. The observatory estimated around 20,000 protesters in Khalidiyah and 4,000 in Qusour took to the streets to denounce the regime. Protests also erupted in other neighborhoods. Video said to be from the city showed huge crowds.

The Arab League fact-finding team is visiting Syria this week to assess whether the government is upholding a commitment to end a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, now in its 10th month. The observers are monitoring an Arab League initiative that calls for President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces to withdraw from cities, release detainees and end all forms of violence.

The monitors arrived amid what opposition members said was a deadly military siege in recent days against protesters in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.

The observatory said at least 11 tanks withdrew from their locations and repositioned themselves inside government centers in the city. But the observatory called the withdrawal a deceptive “show” for the Arab League monitors. It said the vehicles have repositioned themselves in spots that allow them to return to their previous positions.

“It shows its (the al-Assad regime’s) attempt to circumvent the Arab League mission in order to give credibility to its false stories and deny the crystal-clear fact that there is a huge political crisis and a ‘popular revolution’, by all the standards, by the Syrian people who are trying to regain power, freedom and dignity,” the observatory said on its Facebook page.

Shortly before the observers arrived, some military forces left the Baba Amr neighborhood, said resident and activist Omar al-Humsi. Baba Amr has been wracked with violence recently at the hands of the Syrian regime, opposition activists say.

One video showed Arab League monitors in Baba Amr, with unseen voices saying “where is the justice?” and “this is blood. Come let me show you the blood of my other son. Come let me show you.”

A voiceover on another video of Baba Amr says cars can’t move “anything is targeted” because of security force gunfire.

The Arab League observers “will have access to any place they want, freely,” said a senior official in the league’s advance group to Syria.

“The protocol entails that Syrian security only escorts the monitors to the entrances of the city only. According to the protocol, any party on the ground has the right to contact the monitors as they please,” said the official, who did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with the media.

The team consists of 12 monitors from different nationalities, the senior official said.

The LCC said 33 people killed Tuesday. Among them were 13 in Homs, four in Daraa, four in the Damascus suburbs, three in Hama, three in Idlib, two in Deir Ezzor, and one in Latakia. Plus, the LCC said, three people were killed at Damascus University.

The observatory said a student recently arrested and tortured by the regime opened fire at pro-government students, killing one and wounding four. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said one student was killed and four were wounded in gunfire but didn’t elaborate on whether the incident involved political strife.

SANA also reported on burials of “martyrs” from the army and security forces who were killed by “armed terrorist groups” — a phrase Syria has used frequently to describe those responsible for violence during the uprising.

The news agency said “an armed terrorist group” was responsible for sabotaging a gas pipeline in Homs province on Tuesday, a bombing that halted gas pumping.

Jamal Barakat, a member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, said he is part of the Arab League mission. He said Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby “emphasized the importance of neutrality, objectivity and transparency of our work” during the fact-finding mission.

The mission will be broken up into different groups that will visit different cities, he said. El-Araby said observers will visit several areas including in the provinces of Homs, Idlib, Hama, Damascus, and Daraa.

CNN cannot independently verify opposition accounts of violence or reports of deaths and injuries in Syria. Al-Assad’s government has restricted access to international journalists.

The unrest in Syria began in March when protesters, emboldened by democracy movements in Tunisia and Egypt, called for open elections and an increase in political freedoms and demanded an end to brutal regime actions. The movement quickly spiraled into a call for the ouster of al-Assad as the regime cracked down on peaceful demonstrators.

The uprising launched the Free Syrian Army, a rebel force made up of military defectors, and efforts to create a breakaway government. Other opposition groups, most notably the Syrian National Council, have emerged.

The Arab League has expelled Syria over its crackdown. But many question how effective the visit by league observers will be. Al-Assad has been under enormous international pressure to end the violence from the Arab League, Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

More than 5,000 people have died since al-Assad began the crackdown in mid-March on anti-government protesters calling for his ouster, the United Nations said earlier this month. But opposition groups and political activists say the toll is much higher. But activist groups, such as Avaaz and LCC, put the toll at more than 6,000.

But she can still smile.

Her face tells a story of suffering. Her name, Shakira, tells a story of a new journey.

Shakira means thankful.

Last week, 4-year-old Shakira arrived in the United States for what her caretaker, Hashmat Effendi, hopes will be the start of the rest of her life.

Shakira, believed burned in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan, will undergo reconstructive surgery in January.

She will never look fully normal, but Effendi hopes the surgery will make it easier for Shakira to grow older and help others see what Effendi has seen all along: an effervescent bundle of love.

In 2009, Effendi was on a medical mission with Texas-based House of Charity in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The region’s natural beauty was once compared to Switzerland’s, but by then it was a Taliban-infested area rife with violence.

One of the doctors found three little girls left in a trash bin. They’d suffered horrific injuries.

“Who are they?” the doctor asked.

Nobody knew.

Where were their parents? Where were they from?

All anyone could say is that there had been a U.S. drone attack. The girls were likely hurt in the strike.

The doctor, who was traveling with House of Charity, took them back with him. They were in grave condition. Two of the girls died, but the littlest one had a chance of making it if she were treated right away.

She was only a year old, Effendi guessed, but small for her age. She was skinny. Dirty. Very bloody. She had fresh burns all over her face, her scalp and on her arms.

Effendi began searching for the little girl’s family. She needed their consent before doctors operated on her. But when no one stepped forward, doctors proceeded anyway to treat the burns. Otherwise, they would have to amputate her arm. Otherwise, she might not survive.

Effendi named her Shakira.

“Life,” she said, “was a gift for her.”

Effendi continued to look for relatives, even scattered posters of Shakira everywhere and solicited the help of the Pakistani army and a government official. But still, no one claimed her.

Shakira was finally taken to Shalimar Hospital in Lahore, where she spent the next three years in a charity ward. Until last week.

Effendi was finally able to bring Shakira back to Houston, where Effendi lives.

When the Qatar Airways flight landed, Shakira turned to Effendi, whom she calls Mummy.

“Are we in America?” she asked.

“Yes,” Effendi replied.

Shakira put her hands together and clapped.

On the plane, Shakira had learned to count from 1 to 27 in English. It was a good start, Effendi thought.

House of Charity has helped thousands of children with congenital birth defects or those who have been disfigured in war, but Shakira was special.

Effendi raised three sons, who are grown. Her house once again filled with the mirth of a youngster.

“She’s like my tail,” Effendi said. “She follows me around all day.”

She took Shakira to McDonald’s. Shakira gobbled up chicken nuggets. She learned that in America, chips were called French fries and tomato sauce was ketchup.

Effendi was ironing her clothes Tuesday when Shakira ran up to her.

“Mummy, do you love me?” she asked. “How much?”

“This much,” Effendi said, gesturing.

Shakira ran into the bathroom, stood in front of the mirror and started screaming.

It was then that Effendi realized Shakira was overwhelmed.

She had gone that day to meet her doctor, Robert McCauley, at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston. He volunteered to do the reconstructive surgery.

Shakira arrived in a turquoise striped dress, black leggings and white lacy socks. She wore beads around her neck and a big pink ring that House of Charity volunteer Larry Maxwell gave her. She called him “Nana,” the Urdu word for grandfather.

At the hospital, Shakira touched McCauley’s coat buttons; the nurse’s stethoscope. She referred to McCauley as her doctor and understood as best a child could that he was trying to make her well.

“It’s not easy and it’s not a single-day procedure,” McCauley said about the surgery. He will start January 16 with her right hand.

He will never be able to give her eyebrows or restore the missing nails on four of her fingers. Sometimes, when Shakira eats spicy food, her flesh feels raw and irritated. She will have to always be careful about that.

He will never be able to fix the severe discoloration on her forehead. But he hopes to reconstruct her nose, fix her eyes.

Shakira took it all in stride at the hospital. But it was that sense of belonging and being loved that was alien for her, Effendi realized. It was overwhelming.

“She needs security,” Effendi said. “Yesterday was a very emotional day for her.”

Effendi had been working with children for 25 years. But Shakira was teaching her new things.

Effendi hopes Shakira will be adopted by a family in the United States. It would be unfair, she said, to send Shakira back to Pakistan. She has no one there.

For now, Shakira will adjust to life in America in Effendi’s home.

Effendi may never know where Shakira came from or who claimed her as a daughter.

But she knows she was able to give Shakira new life — and a name that could not have been more fitting.

Pvt. Danny Chen was found dead in a guard tower, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The eight officers and enlisted servicemen face various charges, including dereliction of duty, making false statements, maltreatment and involuntary manslaughter, the Army said in a statement.

The Army did not specify what alleged acts by the soldiers resulted in the charges, which were filed Wednesday.

But in correspondence with his family before his death, Chen complained of harassment by his fellow soldiers.

At a candlelight vigil for Chen held in Manhattan last week, his brother, Banny Chen, read from a letter the soldier had sent to his family.

“They ask if I’m from China a few times a day. They also called out my name, ‘Chen,’ in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason. No idea how it started, but it’s just best to ignore it.”

The Chen family told The New York Times in October that officials said that Chen had suffered physical abuse and ethnic slurs by superiors, including an incident in which he was dragged out of bed and across the floor for failing to turn off a water heater after showering.

In its announcement, the Army makes no mention of the harassment allegations, but states, “As the legal process continues, further information will be published as it becomes available.”

The charges stem from “conduct that occurred in the time leading up to (Chen’s) death,” an Army official familiar with details of the investigation told CNN. He declined to be identified because the military criminal investigation remains ongoing.

The Army official said the soldiers are essentially charged with hazing and abusing Chen in the weeks and days before he apparently killed himself. But the case remains open and other charges could be filed, the official said.

The soldiers facing charges were identified as 1st Lt. Daniel J. Schwartz, Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas, Staff Sgt. Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb, Sgt. Jeffrey T. Hurst, Spc. Thomas P. Curtis, Spc. Ryan J. Offutt and Sgt. Travis F. Carden.

All the soldiers belonged to C Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Styker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, the Army said.

Schwartz, the only officer charged, faces eight counts of dereliction of duty.

The enlisted soldiers face more serious charges, including dereliction of duty but also maltreatment, assault, involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide.

The eight men charged have been moved to a different base in southern Afghanistan and remain under restriction. They are not permitted to leave the base, the Army official said.

News of the pending Afghanistan deployments came as families at bases across the country were celebrating the return in recent days of troops who turned off the lights at a number of U.S. bases ahead of an end-of-the-year deadline to leave Iraq.

U.S. general brings Baghdad standard home

“We are glad that we have brought all soldiers back home in time for Christmas to spend with loved ones. We do have to put information out about an upcoming mission, though,” the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, said Tuesday on its Facebook Page.

In the posting, the brigade said it was one of four selected to “support a Security Force Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in early summer.”

“We just received initial planning orders so lots of details are unknown,” it said. “…The mission is part of the transition from combat operations to advisory mission as we did in Iraq and is a sign of progress.”

Maj. Carla Thomas, a brigade spokeswoman, confirmed the validity of the Facebook announcement.

The new mission is part of an overall U.S. military exit strategy from Afghanistan that moves troops from a combat role to advise-and-assist positions that commanders and analysts say will significantly scale back operations ahead of President Barack Obama’s self-imposed deadline to leave the country.

Earlier this year, the United States outlined its plan to withdraw its troops, beginning by pulling 33,000 “surge” troops deployed to help quell the violence by the end of 2012. The remaining 68,000 troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2014.

News of the deployments comes as the Obama administration pushes to accelerate the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, a plan that many military commanders have said is unreasonable in a country still trying to gain its security footing.

“I don’t think we are going to turn around guys who spent time in Iraq and put them on planes to Afghanistan … without there being a clear indication that the Obama administration wants to continue the acceleration of the withdrawal,” said Bill Roggio, Editor of The Long War Journal & Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“U.S. commanders want to stop with the withdrawal of the 33,000 (surge troops.) They want to halt it.”

Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, has said he would like to keep a U.S. “military presence” in Afghanistan beyond 2014 when NATO is scheduled to withdraw its forces. Allen suggested the presence could last as long as 2016 when the Afghan Air Force is completed.

Allen told reporters last week there is “no daylight” between him and the White House on this idea. Allen said he wants to shift the U.S. presence to an advisory capacity in the coming months and then continue to do that mission after 2014.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has asked Allen to review the counterinsurgency strategy and determine what changes are needed. Allen said he has to complete the review before he can decide on the rate of drawdown of current U.S. force levels.

The new mission in Afghanistan somewhat mirrors the U.S. exit strategy in Iraq, which used advise and assist teams to improve counterterrorism operations and train security forces.

Just like in Iraq, small teams of American troops will work and live among security forces, and will help coordinate military operations, according to comments Allen made to reporters last week.

In its Facebook posting, the 4th Brigade Combat Team said those who would be deployed in advise-and-assist roles would be senior enlisted personnel, ranging from master sergeants to colonels.

The deployment was expected to last nine months, though it was unclear how many members of the brigade will deploy.

Also being deployed are troops from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Georgia; the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colorado; and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The brigade deployments were first reported this week by Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that caters to military personnel.

Under an Army policy, troops are given one month of dwell time for every month they are deployed. In the case of 1st Armored Division’s brigade, which returned in December after less than six months in Iraq, its soldiers could be sent to Afghanistan as early as May.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment. Messages left early Wednesday by CNN at public affairs offices at the 3rd Infantry Division, the 4th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division were not immediately returned.

Reactions at Fort Bliss were mixed with some soldiers and families telling CNN by telephone that they were resigned to the specter of an Afghanistan deployment, while others said they were surprised elements of the brigade would be deployed so soon after returning from Iraq.

None of the soldiers or their family members were willing to be quoted, citing possible repercussions over speaking to the media without prior approval.

Responses to the brigade’s Facebook post, though, revealed the feelings of spouses and family members.

“All we can do is enjoy the time we have with them,” one person wrote.

Another wrote: “Not even home a week. How sad.”

Questions remain about the stability of Afghan forces, with some questioning whether an Iraq-style exit strategy can work in Afghanistan.

“Given that we are 10 years into this, my confidence level is pretty low that we can turn the Afghan forces around,” Roggio said.

Taliban must have clear representative for peace talks, Karzai says

The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan began October 7, 2001, with an air campaign that was followed within weeks by a ground invasion. President Barack Obama has called it “the longest-running war in the nation’s history”.

As the United States turned its attention toward Iraq, insurgent violence in Afghanistan flared against Afghan civilians and security forces as well as the U.S. and its coalition partners.

In 2009, President Obama authorized a surge of 33,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to combat the violence.

Earlier this year, the president announced a plan to withdraw its troops. The move was followed by withdrawal announcements by most of the NATO nations.

The military called it its final “tactical road march.” A series of 110 heavily armored, hulking trucks and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles carrying about 500 soldiers streamed slowly but steadily out of the combat zone.

A few minutes before 8 a.m., the metal gate behind the last MRAP closed. With it came to an end a deadly and divisive war that lasted almost nine years, its enormous cost calculated in blood and billions.

Some rushed to touch the gate, forever a symbol now of an emotional, landmark day. Some cheered with the Army’s ultimate expression of affirmation: “Hooah!”

“It’s hard to put words to it right now,” said Lt. Col. Jack Vantress.

“It’s a feeling of elation,” he said, “to see what we’ve accomplished in the last eight-and-a-half years and then to be part of the last movement out of Iraq.”

Once, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were in Iraq, the main highway was better known as Main Supply Route Tampa and soldiers trekked north towards Baghdad and beyond, never knowing what danger lurked on their path.

Analysts: Questions remain as U.S. troops leave

On this monumental day, the Texas-based 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division’s main concern was how to avoid a traffic jam on their final journey in Iraq.
Last U.S. troops leave Iraq Last U.S. troops leave Iraq
U.S. troops mission in Iraq ends
Traveling with troops leaving Iraq
U.S. officer: “We got the job done”

Staff Sgt. Daniel Gaumer, 37, was on this road in August 2003. It was his first time at war. He was frightened.

There was not a lot of traffic at that time, he recalled. He remembered a lot of cheering by Iraqis, even though the situation was tense.

Sunday morning, the air was decidedly different.

“It’s pretty historic,” he said about the drive south, hoping he will not ever have to come back through this unforgiving terrain again.

Once there were bases sprinkled in the desolate desert between Nasiriya and Basra, American soldiers hidden from view behind walls of giant mesh Hesco bags filled with dirt and sand to stave off incoming fire.

On this day, the roads, the bases were in Iraqi hands, the sands in the bags returned to the earth.

Once, almost nine years ago in March 2003, U.S. tanks and armored personnel carriers had thundered north, with the drive and determination needed to decapitate a dictator.

Timeline: Key dates in the war

On this day, heading south towards Khabari border crossing, the soldiers took stock of their sacrifice.

In another war, there had been little joy or even emotion as final jet transports lifted Americans from Vietnamese soil.

Sunday saw the end of the largest troop drawdown for the United States since Vietnam.

Those men and women who fought in Iraq may not feel they are leaving behind an unfinished war or returning home to a nation as deeply scarred as it was after years of Vietnam.

But many crossed the border harboring mixed feelings and doubt about the future of Iraq.

“The biggest thing about going home is just that it’s home,” Gaumer said. “It’s civilization as I know it — the Western world, not sand and dust and the occasional rain here and there.”

A month ago, Adder, the last U.S. base before the five-hour drive to the Kuwaiti border, housed 12,000 people. By Thursday, the day the United States formally ended its mission in Iraq with a flag-casing ceremony in Baghdad, under 1,000 people remained there.

The 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division officially transferred control of Camp Adder to the Iraqis on Friday, though it did not really change hands until the last American departed early Sunday morning.

At its height, Adder housed thousands of troops and had a large PX, fast-food outlets, coffee shops and even an Italian restaurant. Now a ghost town, the United States gave 110,000 items left at Adder to the Iraqis, a loot worth $76 million, according to the military.

In her last days working in a guard tower in Iraq, Sgt. Ashley Vorhees, 29, dreamed of seeing her three children and eating crispy chicken tacos at Rosa’s Mexican restaurant in Killeen, Texas. She also looked forward to not having to carry her gun with her to the bathroom.

Vorhees, a combat medic, spent her first tour of Iraq with her husband, also a soldier.

“When Osama bin Laden was captured and killed, my mom was like ‘Does that mean that everybody is coming home now?’” Vorhees said.

“We actually had it a lot better than the people did who did the initial invasion,” she said. “We’re just thankful that we’re not getting attacked every day.”

When the war was at its worst in 2006, America had 239,000 men and women in uniform stationed in more than 500 bases sprinkled throughout Iraq. Another 135,000 contractors were working in Iraq.

The United States will still maintain a presence in Iraq: hundreds of nonmilitary personnel, including 1,700 diplomats, law enforcement officers, and economic, agricultural and other experts, according to the State Department. In addition, 5,000 security contractors will protect Americans and another 4,500 contractors will serve in other roles.

The quiet U.S. exit, shrouded in secrecy until it occurred, closes a war that was contentious from the start and cost the nation more than $800 billion.

President Barack Obama, who had made a campaign promise to bring home American troops, reflected on a greater cost as Sunday’s exit made good on his word.

According to the defense department, 4,487 service members were killed in the war. More than 30,000 were wounded. In all, 1.5 million Americans served their nation at war.

“All of them — our troops, veterans, and their families — will always have the thanks of a grateful nation,” Obama said in his weekly radio address Saturday.

It’s impossible to know with certainty the number of Iraqis who have died in Iraq since 2003. But the independent public database Iraq Body Count has compiled reports of more than 150,000 between the invasion and October 2010, with four out of five dead being civilians.

And the question of how Iraq will fare in the months ahead, without U.S. troops, is also impossible to answer.

Even before the last soldiers had left, political crisis was erupting in Baghdad.

The powerful political bloc Iraqiya said it was suspending its participation in parliament, which would threaten Iraq’s fragile power-sharing arrangement. Iraqiya accuses Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of amassing power.

The withdrawal of U.S. troops stirred conflicting emotions on the streets of Baghdad.

In the predominately Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, where Saddam Hussein made his final public appearance in 2003, a man said residents were afraid, tense and worried about Iran’s influence. He refused to appear on camera or give his name because of what he said was the sensitive nature of the situation.

In a Shia neighborhood on the other side of the city, one man said he supported the toppling of Hussein’s regime, but felt too much blood was shed afterward.

“The U.S.A. went through and they ruined this country, (bringing) with them many troubles. And now they’re going, and … more trouble’s coming,” said the man, who asked to be called Abu Ali for security reasons.

But for the last U.S. troops out, the message was clear

Col. Doug Crissman, their commander, spent the past few weeks speaking to the soldiers in each of his companies.

He told them he was proud of his troops and they should be proud of what they had accomplished. And, he wanted his soldiers to take care of themselves back home as much as they did in Iraq.

In the months before the brigade deployed in February, it lost 13 soldiers to accidents, some because of driving under the influence of alcohol. At least one death was a suicide.

“Quite frankly we lost more soldiers in peacetime in the nine or 10 months before this brigade deployed due to accidents and risky behavior … than we lost here in combat,” Crissman said. “We want every soldier that survived this combat deployment to survive redeployment and reintegration.”

Capt. Mark Askew, 28, said he was worried about the well-being of his soldiers, many of whom have done multiple tours of Iraq and felt the stress and sting of war.

For Askew, it will all depend on how Iraq’s future unfolds — whether democracy and human rights will take root, whether Iraq will be a steadfast U.S. ally.

It will depend, he said, on how Iraq shapes its own destiny.

The understated ceremony under the bright Iraqi sun was the very opposite of the nighttime shock and awe bombardment of Baghdad that began the war against Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

Justified by then-President George W. Bush on the grounds that Hussein was seeking weapons of mass destruction which he could share with terrorists such as al Qaeda, the invasion was deeply divisive in America and around the world.

Hussein’s regime proved easy to topple, but no weapons of mass destruction were found, and the United States and its allies were left occupying a country where there were not greeted as liberators — despite the prediction of Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney.

Iraq erupted into sectarian violence, leaving American troops to try to contain what threatened to become a civil war.

There’s no definitive tally of the number of Iraqis who have been killed since March 2003, but the independent public database Iraq Body Count has compiled reports of more than 150,000 between the invasion and October 2010, with four out of five dead being civilians.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta flew into Baghdad Thursday morning for the flag-lowering ceremony, recalling that when he visited in 2006 as a member of Bush’s Iraq Study Group, “sectarian violence was skyrocketing and it seemed as if nothing was working.”

But, he said, “after a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real.”

Panetta paid tribute to the nearly 4,500 Americans who were killed and more than 30,000 who were wounded in Iraq.

“Nor will we ever forget the sacrifices of the more than one million men and women of the United States armed forces who served in Iraq, and the sacrifices of their families,” he said.

Panetta said the United States was “deeply indebted” to all Americans in uniform, and hailed the advances made in Iraq since Hussein was ousted.

And he said the day “is not about the United States. Rather, today is about Iraq. This is a time for Iraq to look forward.”

Iraqi journalist Mina al-Oraibi warned Thursday that the country could hardly do so with complete confidence.

“The political divisions are huge and no one knows what will happen after December 31,” the date by which American troops must leave, said al-Oraibi, the assistant editor-in-chief of Asharq Alawsat in London.

Iraqis are worried that the United States wants to disengage from their country entirely, she said, pointing out that President Barack Obama came to office partly on the strength of his opposition to the war, and sent Vice President Joe Biden to visit recently rather than coming himself.

A small number of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, as will military contractors, she said.

But Brett McGurk, a former adviser to three U.S. ambassadors, pointed out that Iraq had been in charge of its own security since 2009.

“It’s not like we were controlling Iraq’s security situation last week and now we’re suddenly leaving,” he said. “We haven’t had troops in Baghdad for over two years.”

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained in very practical terms what the end of the U.S. mission meant.

Departing from his prepared text, he said he had been able to fly into Iraq on this occasion simply because he wanted to.

“The next time I come here, I’m going to have to be invited by the Iraqi government, and I kind of like that,” Dempsey said, before concluding his speech with thanks and a blessing in Arabic.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was not present, having returned to the country from the United States as the ceremony began. President Jalal Talabani was expected to be there but did not attend.

The ceremony marked the official end of the mission that began with the United States-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, aimed at toppling Hussein.

His regime fell in a matter of weeks, and he was captured in December 2003 after months in hiding, then executed in 2006 after a trial by Iraq’s new authorities.

All U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by the end of this month after Washington and Baghdad failed to agree on terms under which they could remain.

There were about 5,500 American troops in Iraq as of Tuesday, the most recent day American officials in Iraq gave CNN figures.

A senior defense official traveling with Panetta said that some troops — perhaps 3,000 to 4,000 — will remain in Kuwait for a certain period of time, but said the details have not been worked out with the Kuwaitis.

Obama welcomed home returning troops from Iraq Wednesday, hailing their service to help a people they didn’t know as an example of what makes America great.

“As your commander in chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words, and I know your families agree — welcome home. Welcome home,” Obama told cheering troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Obama used his Ft. Bragg speech to mark the fulfillment of a campaign pledge he made in 2008 to end the war.

The president spoke of the heavy sacrifice and hard work offered by U.S. service members in the Iraq mission.

“Because of you — because you sacrificed so much for a people that you had never met, Iraqis have a chance to forge their own destiny,” Obama said. “That’s part of what makes us special as Americans. Unlike the empires of old, we did so not for territory or for resources. We do it because it’s right.

“There can be no fuller expression of America’s support for self-determination than our leaving Iraq to its people. That says something about who we are.”

“Even taken all together,” the prosecution’s evidence does not “prove in any way the guilt of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the crime of” killing British student Meredith Kercher, the judge writes.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder in 2009, but cleared on appeal in October.

The president — departing from Hawaii Tuesday — is expected to make the announcement during a stop at a military base in Darwin, located in northern Australia. Among other things, U.S. Marines will begin using facilities in Darwin for training and war games, while American warships will increase their utilization of naval facilities in Western Australia near Perth.

Obama will hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard during his two-day visit, and is expected to discuss a range of regional economic and security issues during a speech to Australian legislators in Canberra.

The president’s Australian visit — postponed twice in 2009 and 2010 due to an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and other domestic political considerations — highlights a changing balance of power in the Pacific as China expands its military reach and the United States works to reduce its military footprint in Japan.

“I don’t want to get ahead of any agreement,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters last week. “I’ll just say that we’re discussing with the Australians, again, the future of our alliance in the context … of our future force posture in the region.”

Obama’s Australian visit comes on the heels of this weekend’s 19-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which highlighted the need for new measures supporting job growth. During the Hawaiian summit, Obama stressed the importance of the Pacific to global economic security, and he pushed China to do more to help strengthen the world economy.

Specifically, Obama pushed Chinese President Hu Jintao to make sure China’s trading partners aren’t at a disadvantage with regard to currency devaluation and protection of intellectual property rights.

“Enough is enough,” Obama said. “These practices aren’t secret. I think everybody understands that they’ve been going on for quite some time. … We’re going to continue to be firm, to ensure that (the Chinese) operate by the same rules (as) everyone else.”

Obama also referenced a number of steps to increase trade, spur innovation, promote “green growth” and ease barriers to travel and interactions.

For instance, Obama noted that Japan, Canada and Mexico expressed interest Sunday in joining the United States and other nations in working toward a Trans-Pacific Partnership — an effort to spur regional trade. Tapping into the Asia-Pacific region’s markets is critical to the United States, Obama emphasized.

In addition to meeting personally with Hu, Obama also huddled with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The only APEC leaders not in attendance at the summit were from Thailand and Mexico, which sent lower-level representatives as their heads of state dealt with flooding and, in the case of Mexico, the death of its interior minister.

With Medvedev, the president discussed both economic issues and Iran, which a recent International Atomic Energy Agency report finds to be closer to having the capacity to make nuclear weapons. Russia has expressed skepticism at the findings.

“We discussed Iran, and reaffirmed our intention to work to shape a common response so we can move Iran to follow its international obligations when it comes to its nuclear program,” Obama said.

After wrapping up his visit to Australia, Obama will conclude his Pacific trip with a stop in Indonesia — a country he spent several years living in during his childhood.

It is one of a number of cases in recent months where a U.S. military attorney and an Iraqi prosecutor have worked together to bring charges against those accused of targeting American troops, though it is one of the first murder cases to be brought before a judge just weeks ahead of the U.S. pullout from Iraq.

“Today, we came to court to preserve the testimony of soldiers in a pending criminal case that will be tried in an Iraqi court, and we bring the testimony today because the American forces are going to be gone soon,” Army Maj. Franklin D. Rosenblatt, an attorney working on the case, stated.

The U.S. military took the step of having American soldiers provide testimony because “we are no longer going to be able to show up here in the court,” Rosenblatt said.

The November 3 shooting of 1st Lt. Dustin D. Vincent — one of the last U.S. casualties in the more-than-eight-year Iraq war — was chronicled by insurgents who captured the sniper shooting on video and posted it online.

Inside a crowded courthouse, one of the soldiers who was with the 25-year-old Vincent the day he was killed told the investigative judge that a “few days later a video was posted that claimed the killing of the 1st lieutenant, and it shows the same location we were that day.”

The video, which was played for the judge, was set to music and showed what appeared to be a soldier on the top of an armored vehicle, at a distance from the camera. On his back, which was to the camera, was a superimposed sniper’s crosshair cursor. Then there is the sound of a gunshot, and the soldier drops from view.

His comrades testified that Vincent, of Mesquite, Texas, was killed when his convoy stopped in Kirkuk’s volatile al-Wasiti district, a mixed Sunni-Turkomen neighborhood in the northern Iraqi city. The convoy stopped to fix an electrical cable on the top of one of Vincent’s armored vehicles — “Then we heard a shot,” one of the soldiers told the judge.

Two of the soldiers testified they got out of their armored vehicle to aid Vincent, who was shot in the upper right portion of his chest.

“He was wearing a vest, but it hit the upper side of the vest,” the same soldier said. Later, the soldiers said, they were told Iraqi police apprehended a suspect.

The American soldiers who testified are still carrying out missions in Iraq and are not being identified at the request of the U.S. military.

Rosenblatt asked to submit the case to the court on behalf of the U.S. Army. The Iraqi prosecutor, who also asked not to be identified as a security precaution, said the case against the suspected sniper could take up to seven months before it is decided by the court.

In addition to the testimony of the soldiers and the video, the prosecutor stated other evidence was presented to the judge.

“We told the judge that we have witnesses and a secret witness, and we will try to bring him to court as soon as possible,” the prosecutor said. It was not clear who the additional witnesses were, and the prosecutor did not identify them out of a concern for their safety.

The U.S. military has successfully pressed for the prosecution of four people who have been convicted in recent months of targeting U.S. personnel at Contingency Operating Site, the American base on the outskirts of Kirkuk, with rockets or roadside bombs.

“I think in Kirkuk, it’s a big step that at least they allow us to come here to the courthouse, and here we have seen some real results lately,” Rosenblatt said. “They have been willing to take on the cases of the terrorists who have attacked the U.S. troops, and I think that is a real good sign.”

Vincent is the second American soldier to be killed in Kirkuk in a little more than a month. A rocket attack in late September killed Spc. Adrian Mills, 23, of Newnan, Georgia, and wounded at least four others.

While violence has fallen off across much of Iraq, bombings and shootings are a near-daily occurrence in the disputed city, which is home to nearly a third of the country’s oil reserves.

Kirkuk is populated by ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen. Tensions among the groups run high in the city, to which the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region have both laid claim.