After 6 years' US-led invasion of Iraq, all 4100 British troops'll be out of violence-wracked Iraq by end of July

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A British military band performs during the handover ceremony of Basra's international airport from British forces to the U.S. forces, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad March 31, 2009. People in the Iraqi city of Basra fear the U.S. troops taking over from departing British forces, whose relatively light touch contrasts with the U.S. military's fearsome, and sometimes trigger-happy, reputation.

HOLLYWOOD - MARCH 21: Anti-war demonstrators carry model coffins in a protest march on Hollywood Boulevard to mark the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war ground invasion on March 21, 2009 in Hollywood, California. An estimated 91,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the invasion. The US has lost more than 4,200 military service members. While violence is reportedly at its lowest point since the US invasion, suicide bombers still terrorize the people of some regions of Iraq. President Barack Obama has ordered US combat troops home by September of 2010 and all US forces out by 2012.

British Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon, center, former head of coalition operations in South Eastern Iraq, speaks during a hand over ceremony in Basra, Iraq, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 31, 2009. The British military transferred over coalition command of the oil-rich southern province of Basra to the United States on Tuesday, the latest step toward the full withdrawal of the remaining 4,100 British troops from Iraq by midsummer.

Anti-war demonstrators put up a tent at the start of their continuous 2-day protest calling for the complete withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, opposite the entrance to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official residence, Downing Street in London, Friday Feb. 23, 2007. Britain announced Wednesday that it will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq over the coming months and aims to further cut its 7,100-strong contingent by late summer if local forces can secure the southern part of the country.

Major General Andrew Salmon (L) of the British forces shakes hands with Major General Michael Oates of the U.S. as he hands over his command of General Officer Commanding Multi National Division (South East), at Basra international airport, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad March 31, 2009.

Tuesday's departure begins almost 50 years after its previous exit from Iraq, in May 1959, when the last soldiers left Habbaniyah base near the western town of Fallujah, ending a presence that dated back to 1918.

The British-led coalition base in Basra will lower its flag and transfer to US control, in a key transitional step towards all foreign troops leaving the country and a full return to Iraqi sovereignty. Britain, under then prime minister Tony Blair, was America's key ally when president George W. Bush ordered his forces to invade Iraq and topple its president Saddam Hussein.

British troop numbers in the campaign were the second largest, peaking at 46,000 in March and April 2003 at the height of combat operations. A deal signed by Baghdad and London last year agreed that the last 4,100 British soldiers would complete their mission -- primarily training the Iraqi army -- by June, before a complete withdrawal from the country in late July.

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Photos courtesy of Reuters, Getty Images, and AP

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