Video: 'U.S. marks official end to Iraq War'

(Thursday, December 15, 2011, morning Arabia Standard Time; during the Withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq (2007–2011), part of the Iraq War, the Iraqi conflict and the War on Terror) — After more than eight years, 4,507 American dead and at least 105,052 Iraqi dead, the United States formally ended its long military mission in Iraq today in a solemn ceremony at Baghdad’s international airport.

The last U.S. troops would withdraw from Iraq on Dec. 18, 2011, although the U.S. embassy and consulates continued to maintain a staff of more than 20,000 including US Marine Embassy Guards and between 4,000 and 5,000 private military contractors.

The war had begun in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by the United States–led coalition which overthrew the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The invasion occurred as part of the George W. Bush administration’s War on Terror following the September 11 attacks despite no connection of the latter to Iraq.

Video: 'Iraq War 2003 Explained | Why Bush and Blair attacked Saddam Hussein'

The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government.

In March 2013, the total cost of the Iraq War to date was estimated at $1.7 trillion by the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.

Some argue that the total cost of the war to the US economy will range from $3 trillion to $6 trillion, including interest rates, by 2053, as described in the Watson Institute’s report. The upper ranges of these estimates include long-term veterans costs and economic impacts.