US troops have begun leaving Iraq in the first stage of their withdrawal from the country that will continue until the end of the year. The first batch of soldiers are from Assad Military Base in Anbar province, west of Baghdad. After packing up, they will be taken by bus to an airstrip and flown out of the country. The US decision to pull out of Iraq fully by next January will effectively end more than eight years of involvement in the Iraq war, despite ongoing concerns about the country\'s security forces and the potential for instability. The move follows months of hand-wringing by US officials over whether to stick to a December 31st withdrawal deadline that was set in 2008 or negotiate a new security agreement.