December 31, 2011: The Last American Combat Troops Leave Iraq

December 31, 2011: The last American combat troops leave Iraq. It had been 8 years, 9 months and 11 days since the first ones got there.

And what did America get out of it? Well, we got rid of Saddam Hussein, and replaced him with... a government that we're still not sure is trustworthy. And we emboldened neighboring Iran, who were glad to see Saddam out. And we emboldened terrorists in the Middle East, ditto.

Over 1 million Iraqis, the vast majority of them civilians, died as a result of this war. American combat deaths were, officially, 4,507; with another 32,292 wounded, another 47,541 listed under "Injured/diseases/other medical." How many have psychiatric issues as a result of being sent there, we may never know.

In his 1988 book 1968 In America, Charles Kaiser reasoned that the only good thing about the Vietnam War was that America had apparently learned its lesson, and had never had another "Vietnam." That was before George W. Bush, who actively sought to avoid serving in Vietnam even as he supported the war effort (as Donald Trump did, but Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Joe Biden did not) wanted Iraq's oil.

Why is it that Democratic Presidents always have to clean up the messes left by their Republican predecessors? Barack Obama got the Democratic nomination for President in 2008 because, unlike Hillary Clinton, he did not vote in the U.S. Senate (which she was then in, but he was not) to authorize the Iraq War in any way. Maybe he would have won the general election even without the economic crash later that year. But it was the war, and the atrocities committed by certain Americans in it, some of them civilians, that ruined Bush's legacy before the crash did.

Obama said he would end the war. His Republican opponent, John McCain said he would end it by winning it. America preferred an ending sooner rather than later, and voted for Obama. And he ended it.

And we will be paying for it, in many ways, for a long time to come. Which we can truthfully say about a lot of Republican policies.

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December 31, 2011 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. All the NFL games that weekend were played the next day, New Year's Day. There were 5 college football bowl games played:

* The Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas was played at what's now NRG Stadium in Houston. This used to be known as the Texas Bowl, and is the successor to the old Bluebonnet Bowl that was played at the Astrodome. Texas A&M beat Northwester, 33-22.

* The Hyundai Sun Bowl was played at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. Utah beat Georgia Tech, 30-27 in overtime.

* The AutoZone Liberty was played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis. (A memorial to a game that's still being played?) The University of Cincinnati beat Vanderbilt, 31-24.

* The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl was played at what's now Oracle Park in San Francisco. Illinois beat UCLA, 20-14.

* And the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the once-and-future Peach Bowl, was played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Auburn beat Virginia, 43-24.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Sacramento Kings, 114-92 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 96-88 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns, 107-97 at what's now the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 95-84 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 104-89 at what's now the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 92-89 at what's now the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Andrew Bynum led all scorers on the night with 29 points.

* And the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, 107-79 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 12 NHL games played that day:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 at the Prudential Center. Ilya Kovalchuk, David Clarkson and Zach Parise scored.

* The New York Islanders beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2 at what's now the Amalie Arena in Tampa.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at what's now the Amerant Bank Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in a shootout at what's now the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-0 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at what's now the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at what's now the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

* The New York Rangers, the Calgary Flames, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Nashville Predators, the Philadelphia Flyers and the San Jose Sharks were not scheduled.