Sam Youngman Reports: "President Obama announced Friday that the U.S. will complete its drawdown of troops by the end of the year, concluding the war in Iraq after almost nine years."
President Barack Obama speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, 10/21/11. (photo: Philip Scott Andrews/NYT)
Obama Declares Iraq War Over
21 October 11
resident Obama announced Friday that the U.S. will complete its drawdown of troops by the end of the year, concluding the war in Iraq after almost nine years.
Obama, who sprang to national prominence with his condemnation of the war begun by his predecessor, declared in the White House briefing room that "after nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."
The president spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier Friday, and Obama said the two leaders are in "full agreement about how to move forward."
Obama said he invited Maliki to the White House in December to discuss the "normal" relationship the two nations will now enjoy.
"This will be a strong and enduring partnership," Obama said.
White House officials had considered leaving a few thousand troops in Iraq past the end of the year, but Iraqi officials were cold to the idea of immunity for soldiers remaining in Iraq.
Obama said that he and the Iraqi government will "continue discussions" on how to continue training and equipping Iraqi forces.
The president noted that troops are also drawing down in Afghanistan, saying that when he took office there were more than 180,000 troops deployed in both wars. By the end of the year, Obama said, that number will be halved.
"And make no mistake, it will continue to go down," Obama said, declaring that "the tide of war is receding."
Obama closed by summing up other foreign policy successes, including Thursday's news from Libya, and saying that America is leaving Iraq from "a position of strength."
Now, Obama said, the task for our veterans will be enlisting them in rebuilding the U.S. economy.
"After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build — and the nation we will build — is our own," Obama said.
Obama's announcement doesn't mean there won't still be a U.S. presence in Iraq.
The U.S. has an embassy and two consulates in the country, and the State Department has long been scheduled to take over the lead role for the U.S. mission in Iraq.
Foggy Bottom officials have been quietly building what some lawmakers have called a "private security force" that will be charged with keeping American diplomats and U.S. facilities safe once military troops are withdrawn. A handful of U.S. Marines will also be in Iraq to guard the U.S. diplomatic posts, as they are in other countries.
While the White House put the likely number of private security contractors who will be in Iraq come Jan. 1 at 4,000 to 5,000, Senate Armed Services Committee member Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said Wednesday that she understands that 14,000 of the 17,000 State Department personnel that will be in Iraq after the military withdrawal could be private contractors.
This story was posted at 12:38 p.m. and last updated at 1:44 p.m.
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Comments
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Did not say how Iraq is better - "democratic" after nine years of occupation - how the defense budget will be cut by 50% - " 17,000 State Department personnel.." translate private armed US gangs ..
Obama lies make me SICK.
readersupportednews.org/opinion2/265-34/8029-are-we-really-done-with-iraq
Between you, with your commie mustard and "joeconserv"'s obsession with latte, I'm really having a hard time taking you seriously.
What makes me really sick is a whole string of warmongering liars (puppets of the MIC) in the White House, the latest being Obama.
P.S. I'm an 86 yr. old WWII actual combat vet who likes to criticize commanders. Has that gone out of style?
In truth, both political parties are captive to Wall Street and the MIC. That's why I support #OccupyWallStre et as the only viable solution to mopping up the mess created by Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama (and I voted for this guy).
Probably applies also to Bin Laden.
"Now, Obama said, the task for our veterans will be enlisting them in rebuilding the U.S. economy."
Ya, sure. Obama's going to give the returning vets jobs. No lie.
Vets are going to help build Economy..where are they getting jobs???
Private Contractors more halliburton Handouts nice More like rebuilding Iraq on our dime
All the U.S. will do is move troops somewhere else, with still another excuse to "improve" the conditions within a particular country. Take a dart and throw it at any oil country in Africa.
Defense budget cut...dream on
PLEASE read above ...
The war really did end when bush announced "mission accomplished". The mission was to OCCUPY Iraq endlessly. We'll still be doing that and our tax dollars will still be paying for it. No one has announced that the army of taxpayer funded oil industry mercenaries will be leaving any time soon.
Until that happens, this is all just smoke and mirrors.
This is really great news.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
unless you're paying attention to more than one issue at a time, or unless you are a little bit skeptical about paul's honesty concerning the one and only issue that he agrees with the left about.
ron paul isn't going to save us, and in fact, would make things a whole lot worse.
"It" has already been announced that we will treat Iraq as an ally - but the Iraqis have not guaranteed us safety so we may not put a base there! Until the Iraqi's have their "spring" -- So it depends.
I think his move "went against the military complex" (who, with the GOP, have perpetuated this long war)
Libya has invited the USA to assist set-up their Democracy. If we don't move in (in some way) - the Brother hood, or Al Quaeda, etc. will move in - so it is a no brainer that we will put "something" into Libya!
And we won't have to spend as much $$ as we have consistently spent in Iraq.
Now - VOTE DEM VOTE OBAMA - or we will not stop the "person hoods" from dictating our demise.
Help get minorities/ old/ etc registered -- and every Dem should get mail-in ballots (even Dem governors are pulling crap in Dem districts)
Of course, the GOP and LAME MEDIA will spin the Iraq pull out as they do everything President Obama does.
Don't forget last night 10/20/11, the GOP/TP fillibustered the jobs bill so they can give more $$ to the rich who they are beholden to for paying for their campaigns. Vote them OUT! VOTE DEM (unless you make $1M + / yr) or down we go!
Thanks Americans for the democracy. Let us know when you would like some help on your own.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!
So much for the history lesson. War is too serious an issue to be dealt with unilaterally by parties not Constitutionall y empowered to do so. Let's not be so casual about these things in the years to come. The Framers had their reasons for restricting the Executive Branch from involving the nation in war at its whim.
Violence perpetrated at the direction of an executive without proper legal procedures is piracy or, at best, characteristic of a warlord, not befitting the President of our Republic.
I know I will get all kinds of crap from the Obamabots for posting this but perhaps you ought to see past the spin and realize this guy is a bigger hawk than we have seen in a long time. If he was seriously anti-war he would not continue the folly in Afghanistan, let alone escalate it.
Bigger than Bush/Cheney?
To defend one guy for ending a war another guy started while concurrently starting wars of his own just shows what a hopeless mind set this country is in.
I plan to vote for Obama in 2012 because we're stuck with him for now. If a true Democrat were to challenge him in the primaries I'd vote for them. No one has come up to the plate. Biden certainly won't be running for President in 2016. As bad as reality is, 2016 will be the next time when we have a clear choice. A Democrat will probably win that election too, the way things are going. And, the way things are going, that Democrat will probably be what we thought Obama was going to be.
The fact that I won't ever vote repug, AND that I WILL vote Democratic just to keep repugs out, doesn't mean I disagree with a word you said. The trouble is that we need leverage, and we don't have any.
People acting like the President can do no wrong, simply because he's better than bush jr. are the ones who've set the bar so low, that a stick insect could please them.
“Yet today’s announcement fails to acknowledge that we will simply be replacing one U.S. occupation with another. Under the State Department’s current plans to take the place of the Department of Defense as the main U.S. force in Iraq post-military withdrawal, we are still maintaining a massive presence there, now with the State Department and its heavily armed private security contractors. And it is the presence of armed U.S. contractors that is the problem. It will continue to foment instability and violence in Iraq and the region. We need to get out now, not just trade uniforms and personnel. It is reasonable to ask whether the people of Iraq will notice any change."
Don't get me wrong... I'm not against taking our troops out, I just don't believe it counts when it is really sleight of hand...
Not a President, A God
That may change in the not too distant future considering the Occupy Movement and the rapid pace of technology especially social networking, but for now to support a long shot or a Teabagging Repub would be national suicide.
IMHO, with enough active public pressure, Obama et al. can be driven to do the right thing; the Teabagger Repubs, on the other hand, will simply start shooting.
In the meantime O will spend his billion dollars in the "swing states" and ignore the rest of the country knowing full well his loyal backers will continue to hold their noses and reelect him as the lesser of two evils. Which, in more ways than one, still makes him evil.
Now, how 'bout IMporting some democracy to the US...
that could be a bumper sticker: "America: Import Democracy" or "Fix the balance of trade, import democracy"
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