Obama can’t say it enough: Iraq war is over

By BEN FELLER

AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON

Over and over, the Iraq war is over.

President Barack Obama, who opposed the war all the way to the White House, can’t remind people enough that he is the one ending the conflict and getting every last troop home.

He is not just commander in chief intent on lauding the valor of the military. He is a president seeking re-election and soaking up every chance to mark a promise kept.

On Wednesday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, a post that sent thousands of troops to Iraq and saw more than 200 of them die there, Obama summoned glory and gravity. In a speech full of pride in American fighting forces, Obama declared to soldiers that the “war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages.”

If the thought sounded familiar, it was because Obama has essentially been declaring an end since the start of his term.

Every milestone allows him to reach all those voters who opposed the unpopular war, including liberals in his party, whose enthusiasm he must reignite to win a second term.

There was the speech in Camp Lejeune, N.C., way back in February 2009, when he said: “Let me say this as plainly as I can: By Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”

When that mission did end, Obama made a rare Oval Office address to the nation to celebrate the moment and declare: “It’s time to turn the page.”

In the past two months, Obama has taken three more swings at it, all of them commanding the attention the White House wanted.

In October, from the press briefing room: “As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.” On Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at his side: “This is a historic moment. A war is ending.” On Wednesday to troops: “Iraq’s future will be in the hands of its people. America’s war in Iraq will be over.”

He also made time this week to speak about Iraq to regional television stations serving military communities, most of them in states targeted by his re-election campaign.

Without question, the ending of a war is moment for any president to reflect with the country. Yet even Obama noted people have seen this one coming for a while.

Since George W. Bush was president, in fact.

Bush was the one who struck a deal with Iraq to set Dec. 31, 2011, as the final day of the war. Yet it was Obama who accelerated the end of the U.S. combat mission when he took office, shifted attention to Afghanistan, and decided to leave no troops behind in Iraq after this year.

The final U.S. forces will be out in days.

This, in essence, is Obama’s mission accomplished: Getting out of Iraq as promised under solid enough circumstances and making sure to remind voters that he did what he said.

It is harder to remember now, with joblessness dominating the presidential debate and souring the public mood, but it was not long ago that the Iraq war consumed about everything.

In a new Associated Press-GfK poll, about half of those surveyed called the Iraq war highly important to them. It placed lower in importance than all but one of 14 current issues.

Obama’s approval rating on handling the situation in Iraq has been above 50 percent since last fall. In the new AP-GfK poll, he has ticked up four points since October to 55 percent.