by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
By August 31, 2010 the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end.
Today at a Press Conference held at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, President Obama addressed his new strategy to end the war in Iraq.
President Obama said that his new strategy would end the war by working on transitioning Iraqis to full responsibility. “To achieve that goal, we will work to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative, and accountable, and that provides neither support nor safe-haven to terrorists…America’s men and women in uniform, so many of you, fought block by block, province by province, year after year, to give the Iraqis this chance to choose a better future. Now, we must ask the Iraqi people to seize it.”
The first part of Obama’s strategy is to responsibly remove our combat brigades from Iraq. “As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq.” Obama said that once the U.S. has removed combat brigades the next mission is to change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its security forces. “As I have long said, we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi security forces as they remain non sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq.”
The second part of the strategy is to sustain diplomacy between U.S. and Iraq but Obama stated that since Iraq is a sovereign country, America cannot, and should not, take their place. “Diplomacy and assistance is also required to help the millions of displaced Iraqis. These men, women and children are a living consequence of this war and a challenge to stability in the region, and they must become a part of Iraq’s reconciliation and recovery.”
The third part of the strategy would be to help establish productive and normalized relationships with the Middle East region. “Going forward, the United States will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria.”
Obama also spoke about working on the United States’ relationship with Iraq as well. “Our nations have known difficult times together. But ours is a bond forged by shared bloodshed, and countless friendships among our people. We Americans have offered our most precious resource, our young men and women, to work with you to rebuild what was destroyed by despotism…The United States pursues no claim on your territory or your resources…Going forward we can build a lasting relationship founded upon mutual interests and mutual respect as Iraq takes its rightful place in the community of nations.”
Obama went on to honor U.S. soldiers for their sacrifice and talked about implementing a 21st century GI Bill, and identifying and treating wounds of the war like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury that many soldiers endure after. “Your sacrifice should challenge all of us, every single American, to ask what we can do to be better citizens.”
