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President
Barack Obama
The White House
Announcement
on Troop Withdrawal in
Iraq
Good
evening,
I’m
writing to tell you that all US
troops will return home from Iraq by the end of December. After nearly
nine years,
the American war in Iraq will end. Our servicemen and women will be
with their
families for the holidays.
The
war in Iraq came with tremendous
cost. More than a million Americans served in Iraq, and nearly 4,500
gave their
lives in service to the rest of us. Today, as always, we honor these
patriots.
When
I came into office, I pledged to
bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. As Commander in Chief, I
ended our
combat mission last year and pledged to keep our commitment to remove
all our
troops by the end of 2011. To date, we’ve removed more than 100,000
troops from
Iraq.
This
is a significant moment in our
history. For more information, including video, please visit
WhiteHouse.gov/BringingTroopsHome.
The
end of the war in Iraq reflects a
larger trend. The wars of the past decade are drawing to a close.
As
we have removed troops from Iraq,
we have refocused our fight against al Qaeda and secured major
victories in
taking out its leadership–including Osama bin Laden. And we’ve begun a
transition
in Afghanistan.
On
the first day of my Administration,
roughly 180,000 troops were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. By the
end of
this year that number will be cut in half, and we’ll continue to draw
it down.
As
we welcome home our newest
veterans, we’ll enlist their talents in meeting our greatest challenges
as a
nation—restoring our economic strength at home. Because after a decade
of war,
the nation that we need to build is our own.
Today
the United States moves forward,
from a position of strength.
Thank
you,
President
Barack Obama
Get
more information and a video
To read the report from Foxnews, Obama’s String of Foreign Policy Victories Still No Match for Economy in 2012, click here.
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