Iraq must now protect itself, says Obama

WASHINGTON, Wednesday

President Barack Obama declared an end to US combat in Iraq, saying Iraqis must chart their own destiny as Americans focus on combating Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and rebuilding their own battered nation.

In a major speech yesterday, Mr Obama called on his country to steel itself for more bloodshed in Afghanistan, billing the fight there as “essential” to protecting the US homeland from the festering threat from Al-Qaeda.

Primetime address

Mr Obama’s 18-minute primetime address was meant to mark a symbolic moment in US disengagement from Iraq, but avoided talk of victory or defeat as political uncertainty and violence cloud a nation the United States invaded in 2003.

Speaking from the Oval Office, a man who anchored his presidential campaign on opposing the war spoke of his “awe” at the sacrifices of US troops, and issued a statesmanlike appeal to heal domestic divides opened by the conflict. “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” Obama said, seated in the same spot where former president George W. Bush unleashed the US war machine more than seven years ago.
Amid political tumult at home, Obama attempted to refocus Americans on the need to repair the ravaged US economy, as a slowing recovery sours his popularity and augurs heavy losses for Democrats in November’s congressional polls.

He argued that Americans had met their “responsibility” in Iraq and now needed to “turn the page” and “rebuild our nation here at home.”

Mr Obama had vowed to get American combat troops home from Iraq and has pulled nearly 100,000 soldiers out -- even as he escalated the war in Afghanistan.

But with 50,000 American troops remaining in Iraq on a training and counter-terrorism mission until the end of the next year, Obama warned that though US combat was ending, violence in Iraq would not. (AFP)