A gate sliding shut at the Kuwaiti border provided the backdrop for the final act of the Iraq war which cost nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives.

The U.S. military says the last American troops are now out of Iraq as the nearly nine-year, $800 billion war ends.

The final convoy rolled across the border into neighboring Kuwait as day broke on Sunday.

The last convoy of MRAPs, heavily armored personnel carriers, made a largely uneventful journey out except for a few equipment malfunctions along the way. It was dark and little was visible through the MRAP windows.

Along the road, a small group of Iraqi soldiers waved to the departing American troops.

Soldiers standing just inside the crossing on the Kuwaiti side of the border waved and snapped photos as the final trucks crossed over.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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