America President Barack Obama said that “US troops will leave Iraq this year. In Iraq, we’ve succeeded in our strategy to end the war.”
Barack Obama signalled the official close to one of the longest, most politically contentious wars in his country’s history – and the end to its attempt to transform the Middle East with military might.
The soldiers, sailors and marines will leave behind a stumbling young democracy, still beset by sectarian violence and teetering closer to its neighbour, Iran, a bitter US foe.
They will return home to a country that has largely turned inward to face its own economic problems, and which long ago lost heart for a war fought in the name of protecting the world from weapons of mass destruction that were never found.
Barack Obama promised on Friday the remaining 40,000 US troops would be ”home for the holidays”, fulfilling a campaign pledge but also acceding to the reality of a depleted treasury and overwhelming US public opinion. It also reflected the political fact that Iraq demanded an end to the US presence.
The Iraq war will be remembered as a stubborn, shifting campaign to restructure a society that had been held together for decades through tyrannical force.It was set against an ever-dangerous landscape of remote-controlled bombs, unbearable heat and uncertain alliances.
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