Trump celebrates US military exit from Iraq as the end of a ‘very expensive excursion into Hell’

President Donald Trump is hailing the complete departure of American troops from Iraq, calling the twelve years of fighting the Islamic State group "a very expensive excursion into Hell." The U.S. military said the last service members left an air base in northern Iraq on Wednesday, finishing the pullout ahead of a Sept. 30 target under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Trump described the exit as orderly and presented it as a win for both countries and a blow to the militants. The timing is notable because the United States is in its seventh month of a war with Iran, which began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel attacked, and critics are likening that conflict to the original Iraq war because its goals remain unclear, according to The Independent.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the departure from the Irbil base, in the Kurdish-run north, closes a campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized force. He said Iraq would now lead its own security effort, with U.S. training and intelligence help continuing. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi oversaw the handover, calling it the start of a new chapter for Iraqi sovereignty and saying the government would keep battling the extremists and disarm non-state groups.

Not everyone is reassured. Iran-backed factions cheered the exit, while Kurdish communities fear an Islamic State revival and more attacks from those factions. Major militias have refused to give up their weapons, and al-Zaidi told The New York Times the disarmament deadline now stretches to June 2027.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →