America’s long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year’s end and all U.S. troops “”will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Barack Obama said today (Fri., Oct. 21).
Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded.
The final exit date was sealed after months of intensive talks between Washington and Baghdad failed to reach agreement on conditions for leaving several thousand U.S. troops in Iraq as a training force. The U.S. also had been interested in keeping a small force to help the Iraqis deal with possible Iranian meddling.
The task now is to speed the pullout of the remaining U.S. forces, nearly 40,000 in number.
Staying behind in Iraq, where bombings and other violence still occur, will be some 150-200 U.S. military troops as part of embassy security, the defense attache’s office and the office of security cooperation. That’s common practice but still a danger to American forces.
Obama, an opponent of the war since before he took office, nevertheless praised the efforts of U.S. troops in Iraq. He said American soldiers would leave “with their heads held high, proud of their success.”
For Obama, Friday’s announcement capped a remarkable two days of national security successes, though there’s no indication how much they will matter to re-election voters more concerned with economic woes at home.
On Thursday, the president heralded the death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and a day later the end to one of the most divisive conflicts in U.S. history.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the U.S. more than $1.3 trillion.
Obama did not declare victory.
He did speak, though, about the string of wins on his watch – none bigger than the killing of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader behind the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attacks. The Afghanistan war still rages, but there, too, Obama has moved to end the combat mission by the end of 2014.
This was, in essence, the third time Obama had pronounced an end to the war, allowing him to remind the nation he had opposed it all along – a stance that helped his White House bid in 2008.
“Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,” Obama said. “The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”
Obama’s announcement was applauded by congressional Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who called it “the right decision at the right time.”
“After a decade of war,” he said, “the nation that we need to build is our own.”
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
