The President, in a nationally televised Tuesday night address said, “Now, it is time to turn the page on a war that claimed more than 4,400 American lives, and cost $1 trillion.”
He spoke from the same desk where George W. Bush started the war 7 1/2 years ago.
“Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” President Obama explained.
He opposed the war began by former President Bush in 2007. He spoke to the former president by phone earlier in the day.
“It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its out-set. Yet, no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security,” President Obama continued.
He called on Iraqi leaders to go forward with a “sense of urgency” to form an inclusive government while offering assurance that America’s commitment to Iraq was not ending.
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, met Vice President Joe Biden in Baghdad yesterday, made a televised speech and insisted his government could cope with what’s ahead.
“We can thank the men and women who made tremendous sacrifices,” Robert Gibbs- the White House spokesman. “We can heal the wounds that were opened about whether we should go to Iraq.”
See Also the State Department Videos from the NewsBlaze Correspondent in Iraq, that tell how the successes and progress have been made all along, that the mainstream media ignored. Iraq Progress Video Also, there is more interesting things to come, watch out for those