American Forces Leaving Iraq
After nearly a decade of occupation, with thousands of lives lost on both sides, President Barack Obama announced Friday (October 21) that U.S troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year.
This announcement comes nine years since U.S troop entered Iraq and will signify the end of the long and turmoil filled war that cost the U.S $1 trillion and more than 4,400 lives.
Obama officially made the announcement at the White House that the remaining 39,000 troops will be home for New Year’s. Both Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki believe this is the best way moving forward.
“After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our own,” Obama said earlier in a brief speech.
The relationship of the U.S and Iraq will now become that between two sovereign nations. The only American troops that will remain in Iraq into the New Year will be the 150 troops that guard the U.S embassy in Baghdad.
