The Kuwaiti desert stretches beyond a U.S. flag on the dashboard of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division that is part of the last U.S. military convoy to leave 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/Lucas Jackson (KUWAIT - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS)