. >> reporter: but for soldiers like jesse lucas who served three tours in iraq, today is a moment of celebration. >> makes me proud of what we did over there. we did our job over there. the president's getting us home. we pretty much had it taken care of. iraqis can handle themselves over there now. >> reporter: kristin welker, nbc news. >>> in the same tribute yesterday, the president told the crowd washington needs to take a lesson from u.s. troops and their ability to work together. and while it appears lawmakers on capitol hill have made some progress on a defense spending bill, an impasse over expiring payroll tax cuts could result in a government shutdown. tracie potts is joining us from washington with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> we'll start with your paycheck and the event to get that done. the democrats hope republicans will abandon tying this to the controversial oil pipeline so, we are down to the negotiations at this point. president obama discussed it with top democrats yesterday at the white house. now, in terms of the possible government s

. >> reporter: but for soldiers like jesse lucas who served three tours in iraq, today is a moment ofelebration. >> makes me proud that we did our job over there. the president's getting us home because we pretty much had it taken care of. the iraqis can handle themselves over there now. >> reporter: now, president obama also had a message for congress today. he told the crowd that washington could learn from the troops and their ability to work together. all of the troops will be out of iraq by the new year. brian? >> kristen welker at the white house starting us off tonight. kristen, thanks. >>> so much has changed as a result of the almost nine year long war in iraq. one big change is this. while the iraq of saddam hussein is gone into that regional vacuum now comes iran, a neighboring nation, an enemy of the united states. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel who covered the iraq war for close to a decade tonight has gone back to examine the iran connection. >> reporter: to see what's changed in iraq since the american war, just visit baghdad's holy shrine of kazamiya an

. >> reporter: but for soldiers like jesse lucas who served three tours in iraq, today is a moment of celebration. >> makes me proud what we did our job over there and the president is getting us home. we pretty much had it taken care of. iraqis can handle themselves over there now. >> reporter: kristin welker, nbc news. >>> we want to go live to baghdad where an ceremony is about to begin and will include u.s. secretary of defense leon panetta, conducted at baghdad's international airport. of course the highlight of this ceremony is the casing of the colors. that is where the last u.s. and unit flags will be taken down officially bringing a conclusion to the u.s. military mission in iraq. joining me in the studio is retired army colonel and msnbc military analyst jack jacobs. thank you for being with us here so early. as we watch this nearly nine years and see it's almost hard to believe the end of this war in many ways that was controversial and unpopular, what will the tone be today? >> it's going to be a demonstration of some success. probably in the speech, there's going to be a