BAGHDAD (AP) - British forces handed over military control of the Basra area to U.S. commanders Thursday to clear the way for America’s main battlefield ally to exit Iraq after more than six years of war.
The U.S. flag rose over a British base outside Basra, the last main outpost for about 4,000 British forces in southern Iraq who will almost all withdraw by the end of May.

At the height of combat operations after the March 2003 invasion, Britain had 46,000 troops in Iraq. Washington still has about 130,000 troops in the country and has shifted units south ahead of the British pullout.

It’s a lonely world?