U.S. pulls troops from Iraq after 7 years

WASHINGTON – Seven years after his predecessor stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier festooned with a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished," U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday told Americans the war in Iraq was nearing an end and said it was time for the United States to "turn the page" from a costly and divisive conflict.

"Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended," Obama said in a televised address from the Oval Office.

"Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country."

Obama’s speech to the nation came at the Aug. 31 deadline he had set for the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq. The final American stryker brigade rolled across the border from Iraq into Kuwait on Aug. 18, two weeks ahead of the schedule set by the White House.

Obama said that ending the war was in the interests of both the Iraqi and American people.

"The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people. We have sent our young men and women to make enormous sacrifices in Iraq, and spent vast resources abroad at a time of tight budgets at home," Obama said.

"We have met our responsibility. Now, it is time to turn the page."

Even as he heralded the end of combat operations in Iraq, Obama re-affirmed his plan to begin the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in July 2011- despite opposition from Republicans who warn a premature departure could bring a return to Taliban rule.

"The pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground, and our support for Afghanistan will endure," said Obama. "But make no mistake: this transition will begin – because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s."

While about 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, acting as mentors and advisers, the bulk of American troops have left a country that is politically paralyzed and enduring a burst of renewed violence aimed at destabilizing the still-fragile state.

The biggest challenge revolves around the failure of competing Iraqi political factions to form a coalition government since elections in March, raising fears the country could again split on sectarian lines.

Obama urged Iraq’s leaders "to move forward with a sense of urgency to form an inclusive government that is just, representative, and accountable to the Iraqi people."

Obama’s speech marked a stark contrast from the triumphal setting – aboard USS Abraham Lincoln – that former president George W. Bush used in May 2003 when he prematurely declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Bush stood before the "Mission Accomplished" sign less than two months after U.S. and coalition forces toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, only to have American troops become bogged down fighting an insurgency that raged until after the U.S. troop surge in 2007.

Obama opposed both the war and the Bush-ordered surge, but he made a conciliatory gesture toward the former president on Tuesday night. He telephoned Bush from Air Force One en route to a visit with troops in Fort Bliss, Texas.

"It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security," Obama said in his speech. "As I have said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it."

Republicans, meantime, suggested Obama was using the end of combat operations for political gain as the congressional midterm elections approach in November.

"I want to thank President Obama for setting aside his past political rhetoric and recognizing the importance of the surge," John Boehner, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives, said at a speech to the American Legion in Milwaukee.

"Some leaders who opposed, criticized, and fought tooth and nail to stop the surge strategy now proudly claim credit for the results."

The U.S. has lost 4,416 troops in Iraq – and more than 4,000 of them were killed after Bush declared combat operations over.

But the pace of casualties in Iraq has dropped dramatically as the security situation improved – from more than 900 deaths in 2007 to fewer than 150 in 2009.

This year, 46 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, compared to 320 who have been killed in Afghanistan.

It was Obama’s first speech from the Oval Office since June, when he addressed the nation on the BP oil spill crisis affecting the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Obama also cast the end of combat operations in Iraq as a chance to refocus the nation on tackling its economic woes, which the president described as his "most urgent" task.

He blamed the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for draining precious resources that could have been used to "shore up the foundation" of the U.S. economy. "We have spent over a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has shortchanged investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits.

Iraq is currently being run by a caretaker government amid an ongoing deadlock in negotiations over who will run the country. Former prime minister Ayad Allawi, who heads of secular alliance, is vying for control with current Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his Shiite alliance.

The Obama administration is "not going to put a timetable on government formation," Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to the U.S. president, told reporters.

Despite the ongoing concerns about the stability of Iraq’s political system and the ability of its security forces to maintain order, Obama insisted all U.S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011.