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SALT LAKE CITY -- All this week we've been hearing about the final troop withdrawal from Iraq. More than 20,000 troops were stationed at Al Asad airbase during the Iraq war, and getting the remaining troops all out without the enemy knowing required stealth tactics.
Dodge Billingsley and Scott Thornton were the only media embedded with troops as they pulled out. In a KSL exclusive, we'll show you video of the last convoy moving out.
The Al Asad airbase is located in Al Anbar -- the largest province in Iraq and also one of the most deadliest areas of the war. Since 2003, nearly 1,400 U.S. troops have died there.
Most of the U.S. personnel flew out of Al Asad, taking the base population down from thousands of troops to a few hundred. The U.S. knew that once the Iraqis figured out most of the troops were gone, the few remaining troops would be vulnerable.
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Nearly nine years after American troops stormed across the Iraq border in a blaze of shock and awe, U.S. officials quietly ended the bloody and bitterly divisive conflict here Thursday, but the debate over whether it was worth the cost in money and lives is yet unanswered.So, it was business as usual -- at least that is what they wanted the Iraqis to think.
They were told the convoy would move out Dec. 20. The misinformation was all part of the bluff.
"First and foremost in priority is security," said LTC Andrew Morgado, commander of the 4-6 Infantry. "The base must be secured and the route in and out of the base must be secured."
In the days leading up to the pullout, U.S. military provided final training for the Iraqi army taking over security of the base.
"Out there about a kilometer, there's a bunch of Iraqi soldiers out there manning what is called the lion's gate," said CPT Jacobs of Deamon Company. "They are like our forward, our forward defense out there."
Nowhere is this more evident than at the Entry Control Point, or ECP, where members of Deamon Company monitor all vehicles in and out of Al Asad.
The airstrip at Al Asad is a crown jewel for defense and security. Once the handover ceremony of the base has taken place, Al Asad officially becomes the property of the Iraqi government.
"This is a very significant day for the United States force, Iraq and the government of Iraq," said BG Rock Donahue, Director of U.S. Forces in Iraq.
U.S. forces now had just two days to vacate the premises, and security of Al Asad was at its most vulnerable stage.
Fewer than 400 troops are left to guard a base that covers about 27 square miles. It will take 36 hours to move the remaining 100 armored vehicles and personnel across the Kuwaiti border. These are the last U.S. soldiers to leave Al Anbar province -- marking the end of a long and costly chapter of the war in Iraq.
Thornton and Billingsley and they will be on Sunday Edition with Bruce Lindsay this weekend to share their experience embedded with one of the last convoys out of Iraq. You can watch that program Sunday morning at 9 a.m. on KSL.
Email: jboal@ksl.com
