“The bottom line is that this is not about us.” Those were Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s words to the Senate Armed Services Committee as he explained the reasoning behind pulling completely out of Iraq by year’s end. Panetta said, “It’s about what the Iraqis want to do and the decisions that they want to make.” In spite of the pull-out, the U.S. military will continue limited counterterrorism training with Iraqi forces beyond the end of the year. More than 4,400 Americans military personnel have died and more than 32,000 have been wounded in Iraq.

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