Joy mixed with fear as US forces quit Iraq

Iraqis celebrated the departure of US forces after more than two decades of war yesterday, though many feared that any security vacuum could increase the power of Iran-backed militias or provide an opening for the return of Islamic State. The withdrawal of the final troops, mainly from an airbase in Erbil in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, ended the biggest US war of the century, which brought widespread devastation and chaos from which Iraq has yet to fully emerge. Iran, which has entrenche