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September 2, 2010

Questions remain as combat mission in Iraq nears an end

Anonymous The Independent The Daily Independent Thu Sep 02, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

ASHLAND — The Obama administration has all but declared America’s combat role in the war in Iraq over.

Seven years after President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier beneath a large banner boldly proclaiming “Mission Accomplished” and boasted that the major combat operations in Iraq had ended, President Barack Obama sat quietly in the Oval Office Tuesday night to announce the formal end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq.

“It’s time to turn the page,” Obama said in only his second speech from the Oval Office since becoming president.

"The bottom line is this: The war is ending," the president declared in his Saturday radio address, renewing his pledge to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Fewer than 50,000 are there now, down from the war's high of 170,000.

We hope the president is right, that the war is coming to a close and that the Iraqi government we leave behind is fully capable of looking after itself. But nothing during the course of our more-than-seven-year stay in Iraq suggests that departing will be that easy.

In one sense, President Bush was right seven years ago when he said the “major combat operations” had ended in Iraq, The government of Saddam Hussein had fallen and that there would be no more large units maneuvering against Iraqi regulars. But the worst fighting and the majority of U.S. deaths — now more than 4,400 — were still to come.

When President Obama now says there will be no more "formal combat operations" by U.S. toops in Iraq, he means that the American troops remaining will be either reactive or in support of Iraqi troops. It will still be combat.

Many challenges remain in Iraq. Six months after the elections, Iraq still has no government. There is still no law on how the oil revenues will be divided among the country's competing claimants. The Shiite militias and the Sunni insurgents have been quiet, but by no means have they disbanded. An al-Qaida-linked terrorist group killed 56 people last week in a series of coordinated bombings. Tuesday night, Obama pressed Iraq’s leaders, saying it was time to show urgency and be accountable.

What if the Iraqis ask the U.S military to stay on? After all, the Iraqis' top military commander thinks U.S. forces will be needed for another 10 years. The Obama administration has not addressed this question — at least not publicly,

One of the reasons the Bush administration doggedly pursued the war after it became clear we were there on false premises was to put to rest the Vietnam-related canard that if the going got tough enough the U.S. would cut and run.

At the same time he was assuring Americans that America’s military mission in Iraq was finally winding down, President Obama promised Iraq that the U.S. will not abandon it. “Our combat mission is ending but out commitment to Iraq’s future is not,” he said.

And of course at the same time our military operation is winding down in Iraq, it is escalating in Afghanistan. Indeed, the president said Tuesday night that the reduced miliary role in Iraq would enable the United States to “apply the resources to go on the offense” in Afghanistan.

In sharp contrast to President Bush’s premature celebration on that aircraft carrier, Obama’s announcement was no victory celebration. Our hope is that the promises President Obama made Tuesday night will be fulfilled much sooner that the ones President Bush made in 2003.

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Questions remain as combat mission in Iraq nears an end

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