America pulls out of Iraq after 23 years ---US troops are finally leaving Iraq after 23 years, a relief for war-weary Americans but a worry for hawks in Washington who say it hands the region to Iran.

• The war cost trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, and millions of Iraqi lives, and the weapons of mass destruction used to justify it never existed.
• Retired Army colonel Daniel Davis argues the pullout changes little, because most troops there were sitting in barracks doing nothing useful for years.
• The withdrawal is partly cosmetic: forces have been repositioned to Jordan to keep an "anti-ISIS mission" going.
• Toppling Saddam destroyed the old balance between Iran and Iraq, and Iraq's military now includes Iran-backed militias — the very outcome the war was supposed to prevent.
• Davis says overseas bases make US forces targets rather than protection, and troops would be better used defending home soil.

Outlook: Expect pressure from war hawks to reverse or water down the pullout, much as Trump's earlier withdrawal plans were blocked in his first term.