Packing And Patrolling, U.s. Troops Reveal Of Iraq

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Camp Echo's dusty motorpools are empty, its private contract caterers have gone home and murals depicting the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's twin towers are already painted over.

One of the last seven U.S. military bases in Iraq, Echo is in rapid handover to Iraqi hands as American soldiers there clean up and complete their final task - protecting the previous few departing troops heading home south throughout the Kuwaiti border.

Nearly nine years as soon as the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, the U.S. mission in Iraq is fast winding down with only 13,000 troops left in the united states. Hundreds are departing each day until the end of 2011.

Numerous convoys of military vehicles and civilian trucks have gone south into Kuwait since Obama last month said troops could leave as scheduled, effectively ending the large-scale U.S. military presence on Iraqi soil.

"It's time. Obama and everybody is saying it's time. We did around we are able to," U.S. Army Sergeant Fred Fox said at Echo in Diwaniya, 150 km (95 miles) south of Baghdad.

"It's time for us to visit home and allow them ...
... to manage their own," he explained.

Soldiers left on Camp Echo, like other bases in Iraq, remain patrolling to guard themselves, the highway south and the base whilst they clean up and give equipment from vehicles to air conditioning units for the Iraqi soldiers.

On Echo, rows of white SUVs, construction vehicles and jeeps sit parked expecting Iraqi officials to test U.S. inventories. U.S. troops are leaving anything not cost-effective to ship elsewhere, like concrete blast walls.

Nearby, sand-colored MRAP armored vehicles warm their engines before trundling on patrol to secure Highway One.

Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply because the sectarian conflict in 2006-2007, when suicide bombers claimed countless victims each day and inter-communal killing between Sunnis and Shi'ites ravaged Baghdad along with other cities.

Attacks and bombings still happen almost daily. Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni Islamist insurgency and rival Shi'ite militias backed by Iran.

At the height in the war, Iraq had more than 100 attacks per day. Over 3,500 U.S. troops died in eight and a half a few years no less than 60,000 Iraqis were killed in the violence. In 2006 alone, 17,800 Iraqis were killed, government statistics say.

Attacks on U.S. forces are far less common now, though officials have warned insurgents may attempt to grab their assaults during the last days of the American withdrawal.

U.S. forces at Camp Echo still face one or two attacks a week, usually roadside explosives. The base was last mortared a few months ago.

Patrols from Echo head out daily scouring highways or nearby fields for suspicious piles of trash, dead animals on roadsides - clearing whatever may be utilized to hide explosives targeting convoys.

"We know they can't destroy us, nevertheless they do have considered trying to demonstrate they are the ones who forced the Americans out," Captain Mark Barnes, a military intelligence officer.

"WAITING For your WORD"

Before Obama's announcement, U.S. officials had held months of talks with Iraq's government over the chance for keeping a small contingent of several thousand American troops in Iraq as trainers to assist local soldiers.

But Iraq's multi-sectarian leadership lacked the political capital to push through any agreement that will have granted legal immunity to remaining U.S. troops, effectively blocking a whole new accord on troops staying at the moment.

Civilian trainers will continue to be in Iraq to aid teach Iraqi forces how to change this new U.S.-made hardware they have purchased, from F-16 fighters to Abrams tanks. Around 200 U.S. military personnel is going to be attached to the U.S. embassy.

"This tour is about bringing our soldiers home, providing them with away from Iraq and turning over to Iraqi forces," said Sergeant Derrick Grabener. "We have to keep your mindset we remain here until we cross over the border."

Camp Echo is right down to the basic principles. Private mess hall caterers happen to be replaced by army cooks and soldiers now run their gym. Photographs of U.S. troops have been removed the base's office walls.

A mural painted in honour from the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which helped propel the us into its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been painted to stop images being defaced once the Americans leave.

"We are just getting light on the floor. Every soldier is consolidating right down to one duffle bag," Staff Sgt. William Cannon said. "We are basically all set to go once they give to us the phrase."