U.S. Defense chief signs document ending Iraq War

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Sunday signed a document officially ending the Iraq War, after the last U.S. combat forces left that country.

According to Pentagon Press Secretary George Little, Panetta signed the document, code named EXORD 1003 Victor, Mod 9, a little before 7 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. The document puts an official end to the war that lasted nearly 9 years.

Before Panetta signed the official document, the last batch of U.S. combat forces in Iraq departed on Sunday morning and crossed into neighboring Kuwait.

The war left about 4,500 U.S. soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis dead, in addition to the countless wounded and 1.75 million Iraqis displaced.

The U.S. military's final departure came earlier before the Dec. 31 deadline set by U.S. President Barack Obama to fulfill his election promise to pull all the American troops out of Iraq as agreed in a security pact between the two countries in 2008.

In his weekly address on Saturday, Obama marked the end of the Iraq War, saying "Iraq's future will be in the hands of its own people."