Obama declares Iraq war over with all US troops home at year's end
By Sam Youngman - 10/21/11 02:30 PM ET

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.

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.

Obama's announcement that all troops will return by year's end fulfills a campaign promise and begins to close the book on one of the longest U.S. military conflicts in history.

National Security Council aide Denis McDonough said about 3,000 to 4,000 security contractors would stay in Iraq, but that all troops, beyond the standard deployment of Marines that usually guard U.S. embassies, would be gone by the end of the year.

Obama said he would guarantee that the troops in Iraq would be "home for the holidays."

When asked if this was the "Mission: Accomplished" moment, McDonough said: "I'll let you check your thesaurus."

Obama's victory in the 2008 Democratic primary was built in no small part on his opposition to the Iraq war. The anti-war movement latched on to Obama, favoring the upstart against Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had voted to authorize the war.

But Obama disappointed those liberal supporters once in office by increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Obama argued the Bush administration had taken its focus off the Afghanistan fight and finding Osama bin laden.
The president emphasized in his comments Friday 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.

He also said troops would continue to return home under his watch.

"And make no mistake, it will continue to go down," Obama said, declaring that "the tide of war is receding."

MoveOn.org, in a statement that did not mention Obama, praised the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but said troops from Afghanistan should join them at home.
While the Bush administration agreed to a deal with Iraq's government to pull the remaining U.S. troops from the country by the end of 2011, it had been somewhat unclear whether this timeframe would be followed.

White House officials had considered leaving a few thousand troops in Iraq past the end of the year to help deal with security issues.
In the end, the U.S. and Iraq could not agree on the terms for those troops, with Iraqi officials were cold to the idea of immunity for soldiers remaining in their country.

Obama said that he and the Iraqi government will "continue discussions" on how to continue training and equipping Iraqi forces.
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