On September 30, the last of America’s combat troops and equipment left Iraq in an orderly and professional fashion. Operation Inherent Resolve was over, and for the US combat mission, it was “goodbye Iraq.”
On March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush announced from the Oval Office that “at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war.” From that moment until September 30, 2026, the United States armed forces had some level of military presence. By December 2011, major combat units departed Iraq, leaving a 150-man team attached to the US Embassy as a diplomatic security remnant, not a combat or advisory mission.
US Forces Return to Iraq
When it became clear in 2014 that the Iraqi military could not defend itself after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized the city of Mosul, US forces were again deployed to Iraq in Operation Inherent Resolve. President Trump took office in 2017 and made dealing with ISIS a priority. US and Iraqi troops defeated the ISIS invaders and secured Mosul and the surrounding countryside. For several years, a small contingent of about 2,500 US troops secured forward operating bases, with Erbil as the central hub of security operations. A significant number of those forces left Iraq in 2025, with the last of American military members leaving from the Kurdish northern province just days ago.
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During the 23 years and six months of the US presence in Iraq, the single event that defined America’s intervention was the search for, capture, and prosecution of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s ruthless dictator. Soldiers of the US 4th Infantry Division on the evening of December 13, 2003, found Hussein hiding underground. He was armed but offered no resistance. According to The New York Times, the next day in Baghdad, the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, L. Paul Bremer, held a briefing where he opened with the words: “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.” Hussein was tried in an Iraqi court, found guilty of heinous crimes against the Iraqi people, and hanged on December 30, 2006. The end of Hussein was the removal of a symbol, but not the end of the insurgency that put US forces at risk.
Despite the capture of Hussein, the conflict looked as if it might end in failure as sectarian violence continued in Baghdad. Realizing that allowing the violence to continue could unravel the peacekeeping efforts the US had worked hard to maintain, President Bush in 2007 announced a new intervention by US forces. The effort, called “New Way Forward,” involved sending approximately 20,000 additional combat troops to Baghdad. The US troops, in combination with an Iraqi brigade and a jobs program, were successful in dissuading potential insurgents from joining militias. There was a dramatic decrease in the killings, which made the withdrawal of most US troops in 2011 more appropriate.
US Defeated ISIS
The lack of a substantial US military presence opened the door to ISIS. In June 2014, ISIS seized Mosul and declared a caliphate stretching into Syria. President Obama ordered a series of airstrikes and authorized a re-establishment of an advisory presence. Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, and the US-led coalition retook Mosul in July 2017, ending most of the significant hostilities.
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Now the relationship is more of a traditional bilateral one that does not include US troops. During a visit to the White House by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, Trump and the Iraqi PM addressed the press. Trump, standing with al-Zaidi, explained: “We don’t think we need the military there anymore. The relationship is a whole big relationship where we don’t need the military. We’re there to help them. We’re there to protect them if need be. But we don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” the Associated Press reported.
How well Iraq manages without US forces will depend on the stability of the al-Zaidi government. Will Iran be a factor in using Iraqi militias as proxies? One of the features of a US-Iraq 2024 agreement was that all the militias would put down their arms by September 30. That has not happened. Nonetheless, the focus of the US in Iraq is going to be more conventional bilateral financing, arms sales, liaison officers, and military exercises. Al-Zaidi captured a possible future for Iraq when he echoed President Trump’s statement, adding: “US forces will be out of Iraq, while US companies will be inside Iraq.” So, perhaps it’s not totally goodbye to Iraq after all.
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The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
