ANBAR PROVINCE, Dec. 8 (AKnews) - Al-Asad Airbase, the second-largest U.S. base in Iraq, was handed over to the Iraqi government in a ceremony in Anbar province on Wednesday.
Al-Asad Airbase was originally an Iraqi Airforce Airbase, known as Qadisiyah Airbase, but conquered by Australian forces and then handed over to U.S. forces in May 2003. As the largest U.S. base in western Iraq, al-Asad served as a major convoy hub for fuel and supply trucks.
Since al-Asad Airbase was easily to be accessed by air, it was visited by many U.S. politicians and celebrities. In 2007, then U.S. President George W. Bush came to al-Asad, also action star and pop culture icon Chuck Norris showed up once.
With only three weeks left until the last U.S. soldier is supposed to leave Iraq, there are currently 8,000 U.S. troops and five bases occupied by American forces left. At the height of the U.S. occupation in 2007, there were up to 300,000 U.S. soldiers and contractors on 505 bases across the country.
As of today, there are fewer than 1,000 truckloads left to be shipped out of the country, after U.S. military carried the majority of troops and equipment over a combined distance of 25 million kilometers, roughly 482 times around the world.
© AK News 2011
