The images of American service men and women driving out of Baghdad, boarding and then de-boarding aircraft back in the United States couldn’t be a better holiday gift to military families and the public. Aside from putting distance between American troops and foreign battlefields, these images mark an end to combat operations in Iraq, site of the U.S. military presence there since March 2003.

Despite partisan sniping by some naysayers, the milestone event of withdrawal from Iraq has been completed with a sense of honor and closure for the nation’s military leaders and the million-plus soldiers who have served there.

While applauding their return, Americans must remember the sacrifice of the nearly 4,500 soldiers who died and about 32,000 others who were wounded doing their duty in Iraq. The lives lost and the blood shed are the costs paid by military men and women and their families to accomplish a mission in Iraq. The public and our leaders should always keep in mind of price of going to war.

In addition to American casualties, about 100,000 Iraqis also were killed during the 8½-year campaign that cost taxpayers $800 billion. The large human tolls for both countries and the expense to taxpayers cannot help but lead to the question of whether the Iraq War was worth the sacrifice. There’s no answer for that question today. In fact, it may take years before Americans can claim with any certainty that Iraq was a long, costly, but ultimately successful campaign — or an abject failure.

To know the answer will take the looking glass of historical hindsight. What happens in the next five to 10 years in Iraq and the Middle East will give us the answer.

Yet, even as it emerges, the verdict of history will always be skewed by America’s actual intentions in Iraq. The war began at the urging of President George W. Bush’s administration, which trumped up a case that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, was a threat to world peace and U.S. security and was aligning itself with the terrorist organization Al Qaeda.

As it turned out, none of it was true. There were no WMD and Iraqi leaders were not linked to or supporting Al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization.

Later, the Bush administration shifted its justification for the war to ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein. Hussein was, in fact, a ruthless dictator, but by using regime change to justify the invasion, Bush ravaged U.S. credibility abroad and rendered his own administration’s credibility suspect at home. Also, several missteps by Bush policy-makers — like disbanding the Iraqi army — proved dreadfully costly, igniting a sectarian war that ripped the country apart and added years to the war. An insurgency inflamed anti-American fervor attracting support from terror organizations, including Al Qaeda.

The result was an elongated and bloody campaign by our military to defeat the insurgency and quell the sectarian violence. Eventually U.S. military leaders engineered a strategy that led to combat successes and provided the stability for a new, popularly-elected government to emerge.

So was it worth it? Iraq still has many internal problems to solve. In addition, emergence of a more belligerent Iran next door could alter the strategies Iraq has in mind for a free and democratic future. Accordingly, the answer to whether the new Iraq is worth what America has paid in lives, blood and treasure is far from certain.

What is certain is that it is time for American soldiers to come home. The military mission is complete. While serious insurgent threats remain, along with the incendiary role of deep sectarian differences, those matters are now in the hands of the Iraqi people. Iraq has the infrastructure as well as a capable, popularly-elected leadership and a trained military. Iraq must manage its own affairs and choose its own path toward the future. U.S. military and diplomatic efforts have provided a starting point for Iraq to begin that journey.

Likewise, it’s time that the journey home be completed for American troops. They accomplished the military objectives that they were asked to achieve. Their coming home to the praise and appreciation of a grateful nation is a worthy reward.