President Barack Obama declared that the war in Iraq is “ending” and pledged to help veterans cope with their return to civilian life, as he prepared to mark the transition of the U.S. mission from combat to training.
“The bottom line is this: the war is ending,” Obama said in his weekly address on the radio and the Internet before an Oval Office address on Iraq next week. “Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course. And by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.”
Obama, wrapping up a 10-day vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, said that veterans of both Iraq and Afghanistan have a right to expect “new care, new opportunity and a new commitment to their service when they come home.”
The president’s remarks were his first comments since US forces in Iraq were reduced to less than 50,000 last week. The US has pulled 94,000 military personnel from Iraq since Obama took office in January 2009. The Iraq War began in 2003 with a US-led invasion of the country to topple its dictatorship.
To mark what administration officials call a milestone, Obama plans to speak to the nation at 8 pm Washington time on August 31. Before the speech, he is scheduled to travel to Fort Bliss, Texas, to meet with troops.
Obama didn’t mention a spate of attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq. On August 25, Iraqi cities were hit in bombings that targeted the police, killing at least 37 people and injuring 126. Car bombs were used in the attacks in Baghdad, Basra, Karbala, Baquba, Kirkuk and Wasit, police and medical officials said.
“As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war,” Obama said. “As president, that is what I am doing.”
Mission shifts
“In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counter-terrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts,” he said.
Republicans used their weekly radio address to focus on the economy, arguing for the repeal of the health-care legislation passed earlier this year and the extension of tax cuts that are set to expire in December.
“We must prevent the massive tax hikes set to take effect at the end of the year,” said Florida’s Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio. He said the increases “would be the largest in America’s history.”
