United States soldiers returning from Iraq speak with a member of a unit facilitating the withdrawal inside Kuwait near the Iraqi border 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)