Obama marks combat end

September 1, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama marked the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq with an Oval Office speech Tuesday night, acknowledging the “huge price” paid and ushering in a new era in which a reduced U.S. military force will let Iraqis take the lead role in building a democratic society.

In a noteworthy concession to his domestic political predicament, Obama devoted part of the prime-time speech to the ailing economy. He said the “central responsibility” of his presidency would be reviving the economy, and he blamed massive wartime spending for rising deficits.

“Our most urgent task is to restore our economy and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work,” Obama said.

Obama praised the 1 million American troops who served in a seven-year war that he had opposed as a U.S. senator from Illinois. As of this moment, the military mission fundamentally has changed, he said.

“So 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,” he said.

He added that the U.S. “has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people. We have sent our young men and women to make enormous sacrifices in Iraq and spent vast resources abroad at a time of tight budgets at home.”

The war toll was substantial: More than 4,400 American soldiers died with 30,000 more wounded. Thousands more Iraqis were killed.

Obama used the grand setting of a refurbished Oval Office to announce a milestone that his White House has portrayed as a campaign commitment now fulfilled. He devoted his weekly address Saturday to the withdrawal of remaining combat troops.

On Tuesday morning he made a quick visit to an Army base in Texas to greet troops who will deploy to Iraq as part of the new support mission, “Operation New Dawn.” Mindful of the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner of May 1, 2003, that dogged George W. Bush’s presidency, Obama promised Army personnel at Fort Bliss that he won’t take a “victory lap” over the Iraq withdrawal.

As he traveled to Texas, Obama spoke to Bush, who had announced the start of the war in an Oval Office speech delivered in March 2003. White House aides declined to release details of what they said was a private talk.

In his speech, Obama offered guarded praise for Bush, whom he often attacked as a presidential candidate in 2008.

“It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset,” Obama said. “Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.”

The end of combat operations announced by Obama began with an agreement forged at the end of the Bush administration. Before leaving office, Bush administration officials reached an agreement with the Iraqi government to ratchet down the American military commitment in phases, culminating with the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of 2011.