Panetta to formally shut down US war in Iraq
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After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, US officials prepared Thursday to formally shut down the war in Iraq – a conflict that US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the price in blood and money, as it set Iraq on a path to democracy.
He and several other US diplomatic, military and defense leaders have arrived in Baghdad to participate in a highly symbolic ceremony during which the flag of US Forces-Iraq will officially be retired, or "cased," according to Army tradition. (AP)
