Obama sets Aug. 2010 as Iraq end date
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – President Barack Obama consigned the Iraq war to history Friday, declaring he will end combat operations within 18 months and open a new era of diplomacy in the Middle East. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," Obama told Marines who are about to deploy by the thousands to the other war front, Afghanistan.
The potential size of that remaining force doesn't please leaders of Obama's own Democratic Party, who had envisioned a fuller withdrawal. Obama personally briefed House and Senate members of both parties about his intentions behind closed doors Thursday.
Republican Sen. John McCain, who lost the presidential election to Obama, offered his support for the plan Friday by stating "I think the plan is significantly different than the plan Obama had during the campaign," said McCain, referring to Obama's campaign pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office if possible.
he president who voted against the war as senator and ran against in his upstart White House bid said the Iraq conflict is one huge, painful lesson.
Admonishing the Bush era, Obama said the United States must no longer go to war without clearly defined goals. He said it must communicate the costs of war clearly, use diplomacy as well as military might, not go it alone in security.
Said Obama to the men and women in uniform before him: "I promise you that I will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary."
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