Epress.am News from Armenia
US President Barack Obama turned the job of securing Iraq back to its people Tuesday, heralding the end of combat operations in a seven-year war that he didn’t start and didn’t support, reports USA Today.
“We have met our responsibility,” Obama said in a 19-minute speech to the nation from the White House. “Now, it is time to turn the page.”
Obama has withdrawn nearly 100,000 troops from Iraq since taking office, and the remaining 50,000 will train and support the country’s security forces until they all come home by the end of 2011.
“Ending the war is not only in Iraq’s interest — it is in our own,” Obama said in his second Oval Office address. “The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people.”
Since President George W. Bush decided to invade Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, more than 4,400 U.S. servicemembers have been killed and $1 trillion has been spent.
Despite those costs, some violence continues, and Iraq’s leaders have failed to form a coalition government since elections last March. Obama pressed Iraqis to “move forward with a sense of urgency.”
The president sought to avoid valedictory and only briefly mentioned “political disagreements” about Iraq that divided Americans.
He said the US would continue to support Iraq’s government and people.