WASHINGTON (AP) — America's long and deeply
unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year's end and all U.S. troops
"''will definitely be home for the holidays," President Barack Obama
declared Friday.
Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the
United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been
killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded.
The final exit date was sealed after months of intensive
talks between Washington and Baghdad failed to reach agreement on conditions
for leaving several thousand U.S. troops in Iraq as a training force. The U.S.
also had been interested in keeping a small force to help the Iraqis deal with
possible Iranian meddling.
The task now is to speed the pullout of the
remaining U.S. forces, nearly 40,000 in number.
Staying behind in Iraq, where bombings and other
violence still occur, will be some 150-200 U.S. military troops as part of
embassy security, the defense attaché's office and the office of security
cooperation. That's common practice but still a danger to American forces.
Obama, an opponent of the war since before he took
office, nevertheless praised the efforts of U.S. troops in Iraq. He said American
soldiers would leave "with their heads held high, proud of their
success."
For Obama, Friday's announcement capped a
remarkable two days of national security successes, though there's no
indication how much they will matter to re-election voters more concerned with
economic woes at home.
On Thursday, the president heralded the death of
Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and a day later the end to one of the most
divisive conflicts in U.S. history.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the U.S.
more than $1.3 trillion.
Obama did not declare victory.
He did speak, though, about the string of wins on
his watch — none bigger than the killing of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida
leader behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Afghanistan war still rages,
but there, too, Obama has moved to end the combat mission by the end of 2014.
This was, in essence, the third time Obama had
pronounced an end to the war, allowing him to remind the nation he had opposed
it all along — a stance that helped his White House bid in 2008.
Shortly after taking office, Obama declared in
February 2009 that the combat mission in Iraq would end by Aug. 31, 2010. And
when that milestone arrived, he said it was "time to turn the page"
on Iraq and put the focus back on building up the United States. On Friday, he
said: "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."
The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was launched in March
of 2003 after reports, later discredited, that the country was developing
weapons of mass destruction. By early April, American Marines were helping
Iraqis pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Saddam was captured in
December of that year and executed in 2006, but the war dragged on.
The ending was set in motion before Obama took
office. In 2008, President George W. Bush approved a deal calling for all U.S.
forces to withdraw by Dec. 31, 2011.
At issue was whether that deal would be
renegotiated to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Iraq. The Obama administration
and Iraqi government spent months debating whether the United States would keep
troops to maintain a training force, to provide added stability in a country
where spectacular attacks still occur, and to serve as a hedge against Iran.
Throughout the talks, Iraqi leaders refused to give
U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans
refused to stay without that guarantee.
Obama never mentioned that issue on Friday.
He said that after speaking with Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, both were in agreement on how to move forward. Obama
said the two nations will now deal with each other in the normal fashion of
sovereign countries and will keep open the idea of how the United States might
help train and equip Iraqi forces.
"Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq,
tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the
journey home," Obama said. "The last American soldier will cross the
border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and
knowing the American people stand united in our support for our troops."
The Associated Press first reported last week that
the United States would not keep troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal
deadline, except for some soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.
"Both countries achieved their goals,"
said Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi. "Iraq wanted full
sovereignty while the United States wanted its soldiers back home, and both
goals are achieved."
In addition to remaining military forces, Denis
McDonough, White House deputy national security adviser, said the U.S. will
have 4,000 to 5,000 contractors to provide security for American diplomats.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United
States will now "turn our full attention to pursuing a long-term strategic
partnership with Iraq based on mutual interests and mutual respect." He
said the goal is to establish a relationship with Iraq similar to other
countries in the region.
"Iraq is a sovereign nation that must
determine how to secure its own future," Panetta said.
Obama's announcement was applauded by congressional
Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who called it "the
right decision at the right time."
Republicans were more skeptical. Many praised the
gains made in Iraq and gave Obama at least partial credit but expressed concern
that getting troops out would bring that progress into question.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he feared that
"all we have worked for, fought for and sacrificed for is very much in
jeopardy by today's announcement. I hope I am wrong and the president is right,
but I fear this decision has set in motion events that will come back to haunt
our country."
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney accused Obama
of an "astonishing failure" to secure an orderly transition in Iraq,
and said, "The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result
of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations
with the Iraqi government."
The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would
entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the
Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and
the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind
dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure
thing.
The issue of legal protection for the Americans was
the deal-breaker.
But administration officials said they feel
confident that Iraqi security forces are well prepared to take the lead in
their country.
McDonough said that one assessment after another of
the preparedness of Iraqi forces concluded that "these guys are ready;
these guys are capable; these guys are proven; importantly, they're proven
because they've been tested in a lot of the kinds of threats that they're going
to see going forward."
The president used the war statement to once again
turn attention back to the economy, the domestic concern that is expected to
determine whether he wins re-election.
"After a decade of war," he said, "the
nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our
own."
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub in
Baghdad and Jim Kuhnhenn, Erica Werner and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington
contributed to this story.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
