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US combat mission in Iraq to end on Aug 31: Obama

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, August 2, 2010 10:18 EST
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States will end its combat mission in Iraq as scheduled on August 31 despite a recent flare-up in violence, President Barack Obama said in a speech prepared for delivery Monday.

“Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility,” Obama will tell a national convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, Georgia, according to excerpts of his speech released by the White House.

“And I made it clear that by August 31, 2010 America’s combat mission in Iraq would end,” the president continued. “And that is exactly what we are doing, as promised, on schedule.”

When he became president, Obama inherited a security agreement with Baghdad that calls for all US forces to pull out by the end of 2011. He has ordered the force to draw down to 50,000 by September 1.

There are about 65,000 US soldiers currently stationed in Iraq.

The pullout confirmation comes amid an increase of violence in Iraq, with the Baghdad government releasing figures Saturday that said 535 people died in July, including 396 civilians, 89 policemen and 50 soldiers.

That figure was the highest for a single month since May 2008 when 563 people were killed in violence.

But Major General Stephen Lanza, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said the Iraqi figures did not “reflect the security situation” while data provided to media by unofficial sources were “grossly overstated.”

Obama said that even as militants try to derail the country’s progress, “violence in Iraq continues to be near the lowest it’s been in years.”

He said the United States will maintain a transitional force in Iraq in the coming months and remove all of its troops by the end of 2011.

US forces will focus during this transitional period on supporting and training Iraqi forces, counter-terrorism missions and protecting US civilian and military initiatives, the president said.

“But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing — from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats,” he stressed.

“And as we mark the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq, a grateful America must pay tribute to all who served there.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Obama was “adopting” the program to wind down the war that was outlined by the administration of former president George W. Bush.

“So I commend the president for continuing the policies,” McConnell told Fox News television. “He … continued the policy in Iraq and I think we’ve made progress. Although, it’s still difficult there because the bombings continue.”

August 31 will also mark the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom launched by Bush with the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to White House officials.

The transitional mission will be called Operation New Dawn.

Obama announced the date for the end of US combat missions in Iraq at a speech in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in February 2009, a little over a month after moving into the White House.

There were 144,000 US troops in Iraq when he took office.

Along with the troops, Washington is reducing its military equipment in the country.

By the end of August, US forces in Iraq will cut back its equipment from 3.4 million pieces in January 2009 to 1.2 million pieces, which are required to support the remaining troops, according to the White House.

The equipment is being moved to Afghanistan, US military stockpiles and to Iraqi security forces.

By the end of the month, US forces are also scheduled to reduce from 121 to to 94 the number of bases they occupy in Iraq, White House officials said.

By comparison, in June 2009, US troops occupied 357 Iraqi bases.

Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
AFP journalists cover wars, conflicts, politics, science, health, the environment, technology, fashion, entertainment, the offbeat, sports and a whole lot more in text, photographs, video, graphics and online.
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  • DHS2020

    Didn't Bush declare an end to combat operations in Iraq years ago?

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  • pinroot

    Yeah it was “Mission Accomplished”. I wonder how many soldiers will be coming home, and how many will be staying there under a newly named mission? Call me highly skeptical on this.

  • Balthazars Rebellion

    …….the president continued. “And that is exactly what we are doing, as promised, on schedule.” WooooahAHHH HA HA HA HA!! BWAAAA HA HA HA !! EEEHEEEE AAAHAAA!!! OOOOOOOOOOMY GOD!!!!

  • ykwrecords

    All this means is that 15,000 troops are coming home, keeping 50,000 still there. If you're gonna “end the combat mission” then they should all come home.

  • Hooker

    And there are actually political types, who, to this day, assert that going into Iraq was a good move. Think of it: the dead, the crippled, the endless misery, the obscene cost, the insanity.

  • Savantster

    “US forces will focus during this transitional period on supporting and training Iraqi forces, counter-terrorism missions and protecting US civilian and military initiatives, the president said.”

    Um, if you're engaging in “counter terrorism missions” and you are blowing shit up or riddling homes with bullets, that's “combat”.

    more spin and propaganda.

  • http://twitter.com/Atlanticist Robert

    Whether one agreed with the “mission” at the time or angrily opposed it, is not the point here. Rather, basic accuracy is. Because for anyone with reasonable reading comprehension and/or recollection of that speech's contemporary delivery, the “Mission Accomplished” banner and his statement regarding “major combat operations in Iraq have ended,” referred to the completion USS Abraham Lincoln's deployment and the end of the conventional campaign that had been launched March 20 that aimed to overthrow Saddam Hussein's foul regime (edition.cnn.com/2003/US/05/01/bush.transcript/).

    As of May 1, both of those were indeed clearly “accomplished.” At the same time, he gave no hint that such “accomplishment” demonstrated Iraq's transformation in the previous 6 weeks suddenly into another Denmark. Nor that it would likely become one in the immediate future.

    But, then again, why should any of us let a small thing like accuracy get in the way of a “new-found”, cynical smirk, eh?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Henry-Lohr/1266667510 Henry Lohr

    Are they going to start paying as back with oil money now? Wow from 65000 to 50000 amazing

  • Savantster

    There was no mission accomplished because there was no real mission. Accuracy matters, you're right, but to be accurate, you have to admit that the professed mission was a lie, and the real mission (get Iraq's oil flowing to the global market, install pro-US puppet governments, and have all of our doctoring remain stable) is not only not accomplished, but won't be when we leave. That metric would be all the deaths that are still occurring and the fact that the puppet government is corrupt as hell and far from stable.

    But the oil will be flowing soon.

    And there are a LOT of “foul regimes” out there, we're not busy launching full scale invasions of those, are we.

  • CitizenPlusPlus

    Never Again! No more blood for oil !!! Out of Afghanistan Now !!!

  • petebogs

    “(Obama) has ordered the force to draw down to 50,000 by September 1. There are about 65,000 US soldiers currently stationed in Iraq.”

    So “withdrawal” means taking a small percentage of troops out of Iraq? Not impressed!

  • BrunoDiderot

    No, sonny boy.

    What you have done is propagate the revisionist version of what the Bush Administration supposedly meant by the term “Mission Accomplished”.

    … do you really think that the Administration arranged for all that fanfare and all that TV coverage … just to trumpet the end of a “mission” of … a single ship ? Uh, NO.

    That particular lie was one of the most bizarre.

    ROTFLMAO.

    Nice try. . . . BTW, when did YOU get back from Iraq ? Oh, wait . . . .

  • Elim

    The flare-up of violence is probably caused by Mossad, hoping to keep us there longer. Anyway, we're not leaving. Just ending the combat missions. Remove all troops by December 31st, 2011? Count on some event before then that prevents it.

  • Elim

    The 15,000 will be sent to Afghanistan.

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  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/YVBA25ZZJYN5C44WGILY6P4X34 Raven

    Pullout what a fracking joke! There will be at least 50,000 troops and god only knows how many contractors left, and a US embassy that's so big it will rival the palace of Ming the Merciless. Unbelievable that Americans are still buying into Barry's BS. No wonder the MSM keeps spoon feeding this mindless crap to the masses. Wake people and start recognizing what the US media is putting out. Propaganda. Just because ours is flashier than North Korea, it's still propaganda.

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