<p><br /> Seven years and five months after the US-led invasion, the last American combat brigade left Iraq on Wednesday.<br /> </p><p><br /> For the troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism.<br /> </p><p><br /> The troops left Iraq via Kuwait by military convoy where they waited for their flights home, to be reunited with loved ones.<br /> </p><p><br /> The withdrawal of the last combat brigade was well ahead of US President Barack Obama's August 31 deadline for ending US combat operations there.<br /> </p><p><br /> The Stryker brigade, originally based in Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state and named after the vehicle that delivers troops into and out of battle, has lost 34 troops in Iraq.<br /> </p><p><br /> It was at the forefront of many of the fiercest battles, including operations in eastern Baghdad and Diyala province, an epi-centre of the insurgency, during "the surge" of 2007.<br /> </p>
