August 24, 2010Obama to mark end of combat mission in major Iraq speech
VINEYARD HAVEN, Massachusetts (AFP) – US President Barack Obama is to give a major speech to mark the end of American combat operations in Iraq on August 31, the White House said Tuesday.
"The president will, of course, be making a speech on the 31st," said White House spokesman Bill Burton. "Just to short-circuit some of your questions, the venue and time has not yet been determined."
Asked if the speech would be given in the United States, Burton replied "We're looking at a range of options," which could suggest Obama is leaving open the possibility of marking the key moment in Baghdad.
"He'll, of course, talk about the importance of the milepost that day as we change missions in Iraq," Burton told a White House briefing in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where Obama is spending his summer vacation.
"He'll talk about the bravery and the courageousness of American soldiers who've fought there. He'll talk about what our policy will be in Iraq moving forward, and he'll talk about how that effort relates to and works with our fight against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and all around the world."
Obama has made one previous trip to Iraq as president, in April 2009, when he told US troops it was time to phase out America's combat role in a conflict he opposed as a candidate and has vowed to end as commander in chief.
The US military confirmed Tuesday that troop numbers were down below 50,000, one week before the August 31 deadline when combat operations end and the American role officially switches to one of training and advice.
"This reaches the goal that was set by the president last February, as part of his efforts to responsibly draw down our forces from Iraq and transition to Iraqi security forces the responsibility for security in that country," said top US counter-terrorism official John Brennan, speaking alongside Burton.
"After September 1st, the United States will have a different mission: one of advising and assisting Iraqi security forces, joining the Iraqis in targeted counterterrorism operations, and protecting US troops and civilians who remain in Iraq," he said.
"Since the president took office, we have removed some 94,000 US troops from Iraq, which represents a truly remarkable achievement for our military and for the country."
The drawdown comes as a spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, and with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election.
American troop levels are now less than a third of the peak figure of around 170,000 during the US military "surge" of 2007, when Iraq was in the midst of a brutal Shiite-Sunni sectarian war that cost thousands of lives.
Brennan said Al-Qaeda was still launching attacks to try to derail the process of handing security over to the Iraqis, but said they had "failed to ignite sectarian violence, and violence continues to be at a reduced level."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100824/pl_afp/iraqunrestusobama
