Kuwaiti and U.S. soldiers close the border gate after the last vehicle crossed into Kuwait during the US miltary's withdrawal from Iraq December 18, 2011. The last convoy of U.S. soldiers pulled out of Iraq on Sunday, ending nearly nine years of war that cost almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and left a country still grappling with political uncertainty.
REUTERS/Caren Firouz (KUWAIT - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)