The War in Iraq: A Timeline (70 images)

After nearly nine years, the U.S. military mission in Iraq has come to a formal end as U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recognized an "independent, free and sovereign Iraq" two weeks prior to the official Dec. 31 deadline for U.S. troops to leave the country. The following gallery is a photographic look back at the previous nine years of conflict, tragedy and loss throughout the war in Iraq.

The motorcade carrying President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq makes his way to Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath laying ceremony December 12, 2011 in Arlington, Virginia. UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool

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President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq participate in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery December 12, 2011 in Arlington, Virginia. UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool

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Thousands of war memorial crosses are on display at the Arlington West Memorial Project in Santa Monica, California on May 29, 2011. The beach memorial represents the 4,454 soldiers killed in Iraq and 2,393 killed in Afghanistan. The 12 mock caskets represent the soldiers killed this week: 10 in Afghanistan and 2 in Iraq. UPI /Jim Ruymen)

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A burned out car is seen among rubble at the site of a bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, August 25, 2010. A string of attacks targeting Iraqi security forces on Wednesday left several people dead and scores wounded, police and hospital officials said the day after the number of American soldiers in the country fell bellow 50,000. UPI/Photo

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