War in Iraq Declared Over

Eight years and 270 days after 'shock and awe' took Baghdad by storm, the U.S. ends its mission in Iraq.

The U.S. military declared an end to its eight-year war in Iraq today. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was on-hand at the airport in Baghdad to announce the formal end to the the U.S.' foray into the Middle East, a conflict that involved more than a million U.S. soldiers, 4,487 of whom died. Another 32,226 were injured, while 318 coalition soldier also perished. Estimates for the number of Iraqi civilians who died in the war range from 100,000 to more than a million. The last two U.S. bases in Iraq, currently home to 4,000 troops, will be closed by the end of the year, although a few hundred soldiers will remain to help train Iraqi forces. Suicide attacks and sectarian violence continue to keep Iraq in a perpetual state of unease, although Iraq's economy has grown in recent years as oil development kicks into high gear. Saddam Hussein remains dead, and George W. Bush continues to enjoy his retirement. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found.