After nearly 10 years, thousands of American deaths and a multiplicity of intense debates on the legitimacy of starting a war with Iraq, “the troops will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Obama promised in a White House press conference. He announced that the last of the troops remaining in the war-ravaged Middle East country will be complete and final by Dec. 31.
“As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.”
Reportedly, Obama commenced the press conference after he had a video conference with Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.
Obama made his vote against going to war in Iraq — which was promoted suspiciously by then-President Bush — one of the key issues discussed during his historic run for the Oval Office.
The two countries were in negotiation over whether the United States would leave behind up to several thousand military trainers after year-end, or if all remaining troops would depart as planned by Dec. 31.
The main sticking point has been legal immunity for any U.S. forces that remain.
After ending combat operations in 2010, the last 44,000 US troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of the year under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
U.S and Iraqi officials have been negotiating the prospects for up to several thousand U.S. troops staying, but the main sticking point has been an Iraqi refusal to grant the military personnel legal immunity, as Washington has demanded. –terry shropshire
