Obama Keeps Promise And Brings All The Troops Home From Iraq

POLITICS

» by Jason Weintraub August 19, 2010, 11:41am

President Barack Obama has kept his promise, as the last of the Iraq combat troops make their way home.

The last US combat brigade has withdrawn from Iraq, more than seven years after the US-led coalition invaded the country in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 US troops.

The brigade left the country in the early hours of Thursday morning, two weeks before the August 31 deadline for the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom which was pledged by Barack Obama.

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Bloom said on Thursday,


"The last one crossed the border at about 6:00am this morning.  They have a few more days to clean the equipment, prepare the equipment, get it ready for shipment and then they'll fly out to the US."

The withdrawal brings to an end a controversial and bloody operation that began in March 2003 that had the US military endure some of the heaviest fighting in US history.

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  • jalishia russell

    i love yuh obama keep up dee gudd work ...kisses

  • http://lukescorner.ning.com Luke

    We brought home the last of what's considered the combat brigades but there still is, and will be for years, over 50k soldiers still there training the Iraqi army and will unfortunately still suffer some casualties so this story is wrong and very misleading to the uninformed.

    • Major Glory

      Luke:
      "The last US combat brigade has withdrawn from Iraq, more than seven years after the US-led coalition invaded the country in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 US troops."
      Was that not clear enough for you!

  • Shebad

    Unfortunately Luke is rite, 50,000 are gonna have t stay there n train, and sadly there will probably still b casualties, but he (Obama) still brought majority of our troops home, that's a small fraction compared t how many were there! Hooray Obama for trying t do wut a president who was in office for 8 long years could not do!

  • Shebad

    U should never believe everything u hear or read, do a lil research for urself

  • Art

    If all the combat troops are gone, why are the F16s fighter aircraft still there, and what enemy planes are they planning to shoot down?

  • sweetness

    someone always has to put negativity out there. Obama has and still is trying his best to correct the wrongs that have been done in this country...but somehow, someway, people have to find a way to complain...as always. Appreciate the fact that Bush is not in the chair right now, bringin more headaches and heartache to the US citizens. The predicament we are in now is something that Obama is trying to correct from the errors of the Bush era. So I wish the haters would STFU!!!!

  • ppearson2005

    There were more than 500,000 troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. I want all of them home! Not just a few.

  • ppearson2005

    1.
    READ THIS ARTICLE FOUND ONLINE

    2 MILLION TROOPS HAVE DEPLOYED SINCE 9/11
    By Michelle Tan

    Marine Corps Times
    December 18, 2009

    http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/military_deployments_121809w/

    In the eight years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, American troops have deployed almost 3.3 million times to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Defense Department data.

    The numbers, as of October 2009, show that more than 2 million men and women have shouldered those deployments, with 793,000 of them deploying more than once.

    Here's a look at how the numbers break down by service:

    • Army. More than 1 million soldiers have deployed since the beginning of the wars. These 1 million soldiers have completed 1.5 million deployment events, with 352,700 deploying more than once.

    In October, 172,800 soldiers were deployed to the war zones.

    • Navy. More than 367,900 sailors have deployed since the beginning of the wars, with 147,200 deploying more than once. In all, the sailors have logged 595,700 deployments.

    In October, 30,000 sailors were deployed.

    • Marine Corps. More than 251,800 Marines have deployed since the start of the wars, completing 392,900 tours. More than 106,400 have deployed more than once.

    In October, 20,900 Marines were deployed.

    • Air Force. More than 389,900 airmen have deployed since 2001, with 185,500 going more than once. In all, airmen have completed 771,400 deployment events.

    In October, 31,500 airmen were deployed.

    • Coast Guard. More than 4,370 Coast Guardsmen have deployed since 2001, with 650 deploying more than once. The Coast Guard has 5,333 deployments on file, and in October, 438 were deployed.

    2.

    Special reports

    DEPLOYMENT OF U.S. TROOPS

    UPI
    December 2, 2009

    http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/12/02/Deployment-of-US-troops/UPI-93091259776903/

    WASHINGTON -- With U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement that he's sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, it's important to note that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is only a small portion of the total number deployed abroad.

    The map to the right shows the number of troops stationed in different countries. The numbers include forces deployed for temporary military engagements, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, along with those permanently stationed on foreign bases. The 2009 numbers were taken from the U.S. Department of Defense and the historical numbers were taken from a study by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

    Some interesting facts gleaned from the data:

    -- There are 516,273 U.S. military service members in approximately 150 foreign countries. These numbers include troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan along with permanently stationed troops in places such as Germany, Italy, and Japan. Iraq has the largest U.S. military presence with 171,000 troops, though this will decrease over the next few years.

    -- Germany has the third largest number of U.S. military service members on its soil with 53,960. It is host to many American military bases, including Ramstein Air Base, which is the headquarters for the U.S. Air Force in Europe.

    According to Tim Kane, author of the Global U.S. Troop Deployment study and a former fellow at The Heritage Foundation, following World War II, Germany was considered the main battleground for a potential World War III, and U.S. troop levels there tripled from 1950 to 1953 to 254,347. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, there was a significant drawdown in forces, to about 134,000 in 1992. Though Iraq and Afghanistan have more troops deployed, Germany has the largest number of permanently stationed American military personnel in the world.

    -- Until 2003, troop levels in the Middle East were significantly lower than in Europe and East Asia. In 1990, for example, during the first Gulf War, there were 38,841 troops deployed to all of Middle East. At the same time there were 287,000 and 103,000 troops in Europe and East Asia, respectively. Currently the level of troops in the Middle East is approximately double the size of forces in any other region.

    -- There are approximately 1.6 million service members in all of the U.S. armed forces. About 1.13 million troops are stationed inside the United States and the rest are deployed around the world.