White House, Washington D.C. – In a rare address in the Oval Office, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a few words, indicating the end of U.S. military activities in Iraq.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” he said.  Obama added that America’s “most urgent task” was now to “restore our economy”.

“The US has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people,” he said. “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… Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the US and Iraq, we have met our responsibility. Now, it is time to turn the page.”

“It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset,” Obama continued.

“Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security. As I have said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hope for Iraq’s future.”

The end of the war was was in the interests of both the US and Iraq, he added.

Obama said that withdrawing from Iraq will allow the US military to divert resources to the fight in Afghanistan, where he said the US remains committed to defeating al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The last US combat brigade left Iraq nearly two weeks ago, well ahead of the 31 August target deadline set by President Obama. Remaining US troops will focus on supporting Iraqi forces. If things push through, Obama expects all US forces must be gone by the end of next year

Back in Washington however, there’s some political wrangling as to who deserves credit to end to the combat mission.

source BBC

Posted by sylv3rblade on Wednesday, 01 Sep 2010 03:46:AM. Filed under News, U.S.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry