Iraqi political crisis as US completes pullout

BAGHDAD - The American military is gone. In the dark hours of Sunday morning the last U.S. troops in Iraq left Camp Adder - now known as Imam Ali Airbase - and crossed a flood-lit berm lined with barbed wire at the Kuwait border.

With the completion of the U.S. withdrawal, the rifts in Iraq's polity are widening, and the seismic tremors are coming bigger and sooner than many anticipated. Leaders are still struggling to define the basic shape of the state, and many people are reacting to the uncertainty by seeking refuge and strength in ethnic and sectarian identities.