The Most Important Issues

Concerning Our Soldiers and Their Family

 During Pre-Deployment and Deployment

President Obama Promises to Bring Back Our Soldiers from Iraq

“Learn How He Kept His Promise to Survive Emotionally During Deployment”

Iraq combat mission finally ends - As President Barack Obama ended the long, drawn out and troublesome U.S. combat operation in Iraq, he will personally thank some of the soldiers who fought there for their service to a mission he forcefully was against it since it began years ago in 2003.
 
Many of those soldiers deployed from Fort Bliss, the sprawling Army base in El Paso, Texas, that Obama recently visited. After speaking with the troops, Obama will returned to Washington to address the nation and formally end a combat mission in Iraq that lasted more than seven years, leaving more than 4,400 U.S. troops dead and thousands more wounded.

President Obama was against the war since it first started and never had anything positive to say about it. Since the very beginning, he was speaking out against the war in early 2003 and promising during his presidential campaign to end the conflict. The President was determined to keep his promise to the American people and he has gone to great lengths to promote it as such, dispatching Vice President Joe Biden to Iraq to preside over a formal change-of-command ceremony and raising remarks to the level of an Oval Office address, something Obama has only done once before.

Among Obama's goals on is honoring those who have served in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, many returning to the battlefield for multiple tours of duty. White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said that while the Iraq war would have never happened had Obama been commander in chief at the time, the president holds the service and huge sacrifice of the troops as one of his top priorities.
 
"Whether you are for the invasion or whether you opposed the invasion, you had our men and women in uniform that undertook the commands of their commander in chief, and should be held up and celebrated for what they've done in allowing combat troops now to come home," Gibbs said.
Since the beginning of the war, 200,000 personnel from Fort Bliss have deployed to Iraq, serving in every major part of the war. Fifty-one soldiers from the base died there and countless soldiers were wounded.

Just recently, some 600 soldiers from the first Brigade Combat Team returned to the base as part of Obama's self-imposed deadline for having all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq. Just about 50,000 U.S. troops will stay behind down from a peak of nearly 170,000 in 2007. U.S. troops will not be permitted to go on combat missions unless requested and accompanied by Iraqi forces.

Administration officials have been careful to avoid equating the end of the combat mission with a mission accomplished. That was the words on the now-infamous banner that flew on an aircraft carrier seven years ago when President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, a symbol the Bush White House came to deeply remorseful as the war staggered on.

"You won't hear those words coming from us," spokesperson Gibbs said. He mentioned that the future ahead marks a change in our mission. Gibbs said, it marks a milestone that we have achieved in removing our combat troops. That is not to say that violence is going to end tomorrow."
 
Under a security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq, all U.S. forces must leave Iraq by the end of 2011. However, the Obama administration insists the U.S. is not abandoning Iraq and is ramping up a diplomatic corps to help stabilize the country's government and economy over the coming years.

"This redoubles the efforts of the Iraqis," Gibbs said. "They will write the next chapter in Iraqi history, and they will be principally responsible for it. We will be their ally, but the responsibility of charting the future of Iraq first and foremost belongs to the Iraqis."

Obama also intended to speak with Former President Bush. While President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq was highly criticized by many including Obama the troop acted quickly when former President Bush ordered the soldiers to deploy to Iraq in 2007. Since then it has decreased and calmed down violence in Iraq helping to keep the country from falling into a civil war. Among the unanswered questions in the recent address, that President Obama gave was whether Obama will give Bush any credit for the role the surge played in leading the war to its end. Should he? What do you think? Leave your comments…