虽然大多数美国人可能认为伊拉克战争早已结束，但直到上周最后一批美军撤离，这场始于2003年美国入侵、给两国都带来漫长而痛苦经历的战争才真正画上句号。
While most Americans may think the Iraq War is long over, it wasn’t until last week that the last U.S. troops departed, ending a long and painful experience for both nations that began with the U.S. invasion in 2003.
在过去的十二年里，约2500人的留守部队一直驻扎在伊拉克，协助打击“伊斯兰国”恐怖组织，这仅是曾经近20万美军及联军占领部队的一小部分。
The residual force of around 2,500 had been in Iraq to help fight the Islamic State terrorist group for the past dozen years — a tiny fraction of what was once an occupation force of nearly 200,000 U.S. and coalition troops.
美国在伊拉克的驻军曾在2011年中断，但2014年“伊斯兰国（ISIS）的崛起使其不得不重返，而这一次似乎是最终的撤离。
There was a break in the U.S. presence from 2011 until the rise of ISIS in 2014 made a return necessary, but this time feels final.
自2003年以来，约有4500名美国人在伊拉克丧生，其中约3500人在战斗中阵亡，另有超过3万人受伤。数十万伊拉克人伤亡。据估计，美国为此付出的代价约为1.7万亿美元。这消耗了大量的鲜血与财富。
About 4,500 Americans died in Iraq since 2003, around 3,500 in combat, and more than 30,000 were wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed and wounded. The cost to the U.S. is estimated at around $1.7 trillion. A lot of blood and treasure.
大多数历史学家和军事分析人士认为这场冲突是一场灾难，将其称为“选择性战争”，并将其与越南战争和阿富汗战争等明显的失败相提并论。
Most historians and military analysts consider the conflict a disaster, calling it a “war of choice” and placing it alongside obvious failures such as Vietnam and Afghanistan.