'A new chapter': US shuts down Iraq war

NBC News

U.S. troops take part in the end of mission ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 6:43 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD -- Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta marked the end of the U.S. war in Iraq?at a highly symbolic ceremony Thursday.

U.S. soldiers rolled up the flag for American forces in Iraq and slipped it into a camouflage-colored sleeve, formally "casing" it, according to Army tradition.

Panetta said veterans of the nearly nine-year conflict can be "secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to cast tyranny aside."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani were invited to the ceremony but did?not attend.

---

Nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in a war that began with a "Shock and Awe" campaign of missiles pounding Baghdad, but later descended into a bloody sectarian struggle between long-oppressed majority Shiites and their former Sunni masters.

"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 added.

Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also?spoke?during the ceremony?at Baghdad International Airport.

Updated at 5:46 a.m. ET:?Austin says Iraqis now?have "unprecedented opportunities."

Updated at 5:42 a.m ET: "Since 2003, we have helped the Iraqi security forces grow from zero to 650,000-strong," Austin says.

Updated at 5:40 a.m. ET: Austin recalls how he was present when American?forces secured the airfield where?the ceremony is being held.?"After 21 days of tough fighting, we ended Saddam Hussein's reign of terror,"?he adds.

Updated at 5:37 a.m. ET: Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, points out that the next time he visits?Baghdad it will have to?be at the invitation of the Iraqi?government. "I kinda like that," he adds.

Updated at 5:32 a.m. ET: "This is not the end, this is the beginning," Panetta says.?"May God bless Iraq, its people and its future."

Saddam's Iraq is gone, but in its place is a state with close ties to one of America's biggest and most unpredictable enemies: Iran. NBC's Richard Engel has been covering the war from the start, and went back for this historic week to take a closer look at the Iran connection.

Updated at 5:29 a.m. ET: "Let me be clear, Iraq will be tested in the days ahead -- by terrorism, by those who would seek to divide," Panetta says. "Challenges remain but the United States will be there to stand with the Iraqi people. We are not about to turn our backs on all that has been sacrificed and accomplished."

Updated at 5:26 a.m. ET: "Your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people begin a new chapter in history, free from tyranny," Panetta says.?"This outcome was never certain, particularly during the war's darkest days."

Updated at 5:23 a.m. ET: Panetta highlights the "heartbreak" of military families who?watched their loved ones go off to war.

Updated at 5:18 a.m. ET: "It is a profound honor to be here in Baghdad," Panetta says at ceremony."No words, no ceremony can provide full tribute to the sacrifices that have brought this day to pass."

Updated at 5:16 a.m. ET: "We look forward to an Iraq that is sovereign, secure and self-reliant," US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey says.

Read more about the?Iraq withdrawal

Published at 4:45 a.m. ET: After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials prepared Thursday to formally shut down the war in Iraq ? a conflict that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the price in blood and money, as it set Iraq on a path to democracy.

Panetta stepped off his military plane in Baghdad Thursday as the leader of America's war in Iraq, but will leave as one of many top U.S. and global officials who hope to work with the struggling nation as it tries to find its new place in the Middle East and the broader world.

He and several other U.S. diplomatic, military and defense leaders will participate in a highly symbolic ceremony during which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq will officially be retired, or "cased," according to Army tradition.

During several stops in Afghanistan this week, Panetta made it clear that the U.S. can be proud of its accomplishments in Iraq, and that the cost of the bitterly divisive war was worth it.

After nearly nine years and 4,500 American lives lost, President Obama and the first lady officially marked the end of the Iraq war Wednesday. NBC's Kristen Welker has more.

"We spilled a lot of blood there," Panetta said. "But all of that has not been in vain. It's been to achieve a mission making that country sovereign and independent and able to govern and secure itself."

That, he said, is "a tribute to everybody ? everybody who fought in that war, everybody who spilled blood in that war, everybody who was dedicated to making sure we could achieve that mission."

Panetta has echoed President Barack Obama's promise that the U.S. plans to keep a robust diplomatic presence in Iraq, foster a deep and lasting relationship with the nation and maintain a strong military force in the region.

Raging sectarianism
As of Thursday, there were two U.S. bases and about 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq ? a dramatic drop from the roughly 500 military installations and as many as 170,000 troops during the surge ordered by President George W. Bush in 2007, when violence and raging sectarianism gripped the country. All U.S. troops are slated to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, but officials are likely to meet that goal a bit before then.

The total U.S. departure is a bit earlier than initially planned, and military leaders worry that it is premature for the still maturing Iraqi security forces, who face continuing struggles to develop the logistics, air operations, surveillance and intelligence sharing capabilities they will need in what has long been a difficult neighborhood.

U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on legal issues and troop immunity that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain. U.S. defense officials said they expect there will be no movement on that issue until sometime next year.

Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org and Matthew Hoh of the Center for International Policy debate the winners and losers of the Iraq War and the non-military presence that will remain.

Still, despite Obama's earlier contention that all American troops would be home for Christmas, at least 4,000 forces will remain in Kuwait for some months. The troops will be able to help finalize the move out of Iraq, but could also be used as a quick reaction force if needed.

Bombings and attacks have eased since American and Iraqi security forces weakened insurgents. But roadside bombs, car bombs and assassinations still kill and maim almost every day.

A frail economy, constant power shortages, scarce jobs and discontent with political leaders all fuel uncertainty among Iraqis.

"Thanks to the Americans. They took us away from Saddam Hussein, I have to say that. But I think now we are going to be in trouble," said Malik Abed, 44, a vendor at a Baghdad fish market. "Maybe the terrorists will start attacking us again."

Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9461909-a-new-chapter-us-shuts-down-iraq-war

boise state football jack and jill uss carl vinson holly marie combs unc basketball college basketball gunsmoke

This DIY Solar Powered Robot Kit Is Your Creative Deal of the Day [Dealzmodo]

I hate being sick. I hate being sick on a Friday. Of all days, right! I hate being sick when the sun is out. Why not pound my head on a rainy day? I pretty much hate everything when I'm sick. So my solution is to make these foolish pacts with myself that I'm going to do everything when I get better. Like I'm going to be a different person. I'm going to go to the gym! To the museums! To volunteer! You just see, when I'm back on my feet, I'll be a better person! And well, that never happens. I just get better and forget about ever being sick. So being sick sucks. It makes you crazy. Having a 6-in-1 DIY Solar Powered Robot Kit for 10 bucks doesn't suck. -CC More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Bq66ZfUBDa0/this-diy-solar-powered-robot-kit-is-your-creative-deal-of-the-day

statue of liberty gold rush alaska gold rush alaska the addams family blue bloods temple grandin texas rangers

Japan PM says tsunami-hit nuclear plant is stable

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has reached a stable state of "cold shutdown" and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation, Noda announced, marking a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has reached a stable state of "cold shutdown" and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation, Noda announced, marking a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has reached a stable state of "cold shutdown" and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation, Noda announced, marking a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has reached a stable state of "cold shutdown" and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation, Noda announced, marking a milestone nine months after the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2011 file photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), water leakage is shown from a purification device at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo. The nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from the purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co., File) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

The Unit 4 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station is seen through a bus window in Okuma, Japan, when the media were allowed into Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant for the first time since the March 11 disaster. Japan is poised to declare its crippled nuclear plant virtually stable nine months after a devastating tsunami, but the facility still leaks some radiation, remains vulnerable to earthquakes and shows no prospect for cleanup for decades. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, Pool, File)

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's prime minister announced Friday that the country's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant has achieved a stable state of "cold shutdown," a crucial step toward the eventual lifting of evacuation orders and closing of the plant.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announcement was intended to reassure the nation that significant progress has been made in the nine months since the March 11 tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant into meltdowns in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

But experts say the plant 140 miles (230 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo remains vulnerable to problems and its surroundings are contaminated by radiation and closing the plant safely will take 30 or more years.

"The reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant have reached a state of cold shutdown," Noda said. "Now that we have achieved stability in the reactors, a major concern for the nation has been resolved."

Radiation released from the plant has been significantly reduced and additional safety steps installed at the plant ensure safety even in the event of another major disaster, he said.

Noda said he hopes conditions will improve quickly so that the people who have been displaced by the crisis can return home "even a day sooner."

"There are many issues that remain," Noda said. "Our battle is not over."

The government's official endorsement of the claim by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that the reactors have reached cold shutdown status is a necessary step toward revising evacuation zones around the plant and focusing efforts from simply stabilizing the facility to actually starting the arduous process of shutting it down.

But Noda acknowledged the assessment has some important caveats.

The government says Fukushima Dai-ichi has reached cold shutdown "conditions"? a cautious phrasing reflecting the fact that TEPCO cannot measure temperatures of melted fuel in the damaged reactors in the same way as with normally functioning ones.

Even so, the announcement marks the end of the second phase of the government's lengthy roadmap to completely decommission the plant.

Officials can now start discussing whether to allow some evacuees to return to less-contaminated areas ? although a 12-mile (20-kilometer) zone around the plant is expected to remain off limits for years to come. The crisis displaced some 100,000 people.

"We hope this will be a step toward allowing our residents to return home, but the road ahead is long and difficult," Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato told reporters.

Noda said the government will step up decontamination efforts and will ready 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) for urgently needed projects next year. He also said 30,000 workers will be trained.

A cold shutdown normally means a nuclear reactor's coolant system is at atmospheric pressure and its reactor core is at a temperature below 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius), making it impossible for a chain reaction to take place.

According to TEPCO, temperature gauges inside the Fukushima reactors show the pressure vessel is at around 70 C (158 F). The government also says the amount of radiation now being released around the plant is at or below 1 millisievert per year ? equivalent to the annual legal exposure limit for ordinary citizens before the crisis began.

Yet, the complex still faces numerous concerns. Nobody knows where exactly and how the melted fuel ended up in each reactor, and the plant is struggling with the vast amount of radioactive water that has collected in the reactor basements and nearby storage areas.

TEPCO President Toshio Nishizawa apologized for the accident, and vowed to further stabilize the plant and reduce its radiation release until the operator finally put it to a close.

Akira Yamaguchi, a nuclear physicist at Osaka University, said that the government's definition of cold shutdown is disputable.

"But what's most important right now is that there aren't any massive radiation leaks any more," he said.

Putting longer-term issues aside, he warned that much of the backup equipment installed at the plant since the crisis began is makeshift and may break down. He said winter cold could test their strength.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Talmadge contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-16-AS-Japan-Nuclear-Crisis/id-1ea23a13ddd7434ab4f25daba1401f4e

pearl harbor alec baldwin alec baldwin rock and roll hall of fame erin andrews erin andrews blagojevich sentence

The End of Gerrymandering

California?s process avoided the tiebreaker pitfall by requiring bipartisan agreement among its commission members. Impressively, they achieved it, approving new maps unanimously. But that didn?t stop Republicans, and some minority groups, from crying foul. Republicans allege that three Southern California districts were rigged to protect Democratic incumbents; some Latinos have complained that the new maps don?t include enough Latino-majority districts. With no gerrymandering legislators to blame, Republicans resorted to criticizing a nonpartisan consultant from UC-Berkeley who helped draw the maps. (?I had never been called a ?partisan hack? in my life? before consulting on the redistricting project, the consultant, Karin Mac Donald, told me.) Republican activists filed two lawsuits challenging the redistricting plan in the state Supreme Court. After losing both, they recently reloaded with a new federal suit. Meanwhile, another group of Republicans has raised millions in a bid to put the new maps to a referendum.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=02c6aa92ab9ef1124dcd14dde4ccac28

gilbert arenas das racist das racist ginger white conrad murray sentencing conrad murray sentencing urban meyer

Tameka Foster Demands Drug Test for Usher

Tameka Foster is intent on proving that Usher is an unfit father.

The singer's ex-wife filed papers in court last week that allege a number of indiscretions by Usher, most of them based on the way he has treated Tameka, not the way he has been toward his two sons.

But now Foster is raising the accusatory ante, demanding a judge force Usher to take a drug test ASAP because she believes he's been popping pills around the pair's children. Usher has refused to take this bait so far, deeming his ex's claims to be "frivolous and unfounded," merely meant to "harass and embarrass" the artist.

As a result, lawyers are now involved and Tameka's side is urging the legal system to act quickly, lest Usher have the chance to "cleanse" his body of all foreign substances.

We'll see how this turns out, but right now it's clear Usher did the right thing by cleaning his life of Tameka, isn't it?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/tameka-foster-demands-drug-test-for-usher/

calvin johnson calvin johnson kenyon martin kenyon martin lizard lick towing jenny mccarthy megatron

Revisiting Romney?s ?deceitful, dishonest? ad about Obama (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/170489286?client_source=feed&format=rss

burzynski pete seeger gazelle gazelle pumpkin carving patterns pumpkin carving patterns lizzie borden

APNewsBreak: MLB avg salary up 2.7 pct to $3.1M

By RONALD BLUM

updated 9:01 p.m. ET Dec. 5, 2011

DALLAS - The average major league salary increased 2.7 percent this year to nearly $3.1 million, the largest rise since 2008.

The 913 players on Aug. 31 rosters and disabled lists averaged $3,095,183, the Major League Baseball Players Association said Monday in its annual report, up from $3,014,572 last year when the average topped $3 million for the first time.

The average figures to go up next year, with the minimum salary rising from $414,000 to $480,000 under the new labor contract.

The New York Yankees had the highest average salary for the 13th consecutive season, but at $6.54 million it declined for the second straight year, down from a peak of $7.66 million when they won the World Series in 2009.

Philadelphia was second at $6.44 million, followed by Boston ($5.21 million), the Los Angeles Angels ($4.58 million) and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals ($4.47 million). AL champion Texas was 15th at $3.01 million.

Among other playoff teams, Detroit was ninth at $3.96 million, Milwaukee 11th at $3.41 million, Arizona 22nd at $2.12 million and Tampa Bay 28th at $1.54 million. Commissioner Bud Selig has pointed out several times that changes to baseball's labor contract in recent years have increased competitive balance.

Kansas City was last at $1.34 million, just behind San Diego at $1.35 million. Pittsburgh, which was last in 2010, rose to 27th at $1.73 million.

Among regulars at positions, designated hitters took over as the highest average at $9.3 million, followed by first basemen at $8.9 million. With the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez spending time on the disabled list and failing to play 100 games at third base, that position's average dropped from $6.5 million to $5.2 million.

Outfielders were at $5.6 million, second basemen $5.2 million, starting pitchers $4.9 million, shortstops $3.9 million, catchers $2.6 million and relief pitchers $1.9 million.

The commissioner's office will not determine its final figures for a few weeks. Management's numbers usually differ slightly because of different methods of calculation.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More newsJamie Squire / Getty Images

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45557460/ns/sports-baseball/

julio jones elizabeth warren coptic church steve bartman columbus day columbus day mark davis