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Obama heralds end of divisive Iraq war

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President Barack Obama heralded the end of the divisive Iraq war Monday, and warned Iraq’s neighbors that the United States would remain a major player in the region even as it brings its troops home.

“Our strong presence in the Middle East endures,” Obama said. “And the United States will never waiver in the defense of our allies, our partners and our interests.”

Speaking after a morning of meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Obama said other nations must not interfere with Iraq’s sovereignty. While he stopped short of mentioning any countries by name, U.S. officials are closely watching how neighboring Iran may seek to influence Baghdad after U.S. troops withdraw.

Monday’s meetings came as the last American troops were preparing to leave Iraq ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline. Just 6,000 U.S. forces remain, down from a high of 170,000 at the war’s peak in 2007.

“Our war in Iraq ends this month,” Obama said, with al-Maliki by his side.

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6 responses to “Obama heralds end of divisive Iraq war”

  1. antar2011 Avatar
    antar2011

    it is interesting to watch the debate on Al Jazeera TV in its program “al wajh al mou3akes” concerning this issue.

    one of the guests was elias zoghbi who i admire and of course i tend to agree with him regarding this issue.

    his opinion was that USA and/Israel is happy for Iran to be powerful i the region (to break arab/sunni land) but on a condition that it does not build nuclear weapons and there is one other condition i cannot remember.

    this leads to him sayig that it is a mistake if anyone thinks that USA is actually defeated in iraq. its withdrawing of soldiers does not mean it has no more interference in iraq in fact everything there has american impreints on it.

    he basically is sayig Iran and USA are working together in Iraq and USA knows full well that Iran will take over Iraq but inder USA’s eyes and as long as it has not WMD. it is also happy to hand it over to Iran as log as it is benefitig from iraq’s resources.

    1. KhalidH Avatar
      KhalidH

      From day one US has been using groups &pple closely aligned with Iran, some even created, armed,trained & funded by Iran; SCIRI, Dawa Party, Ahmad Chalbi, Jalal talibani & the list goes on! Then there are those that were created after the Invasion to give Iran more autonomy i.e. Mehdi army specialial groups etc. 

      It is no coincidence nationalist & Sunni cities & neighbourhoods within mixed cities have been the hardest hit, not just by US but also by Iranian allies & al qaida!

      It is very sad but the small skirmishs that occured in Karbala, najaf & kufa, are nothing compared to siege & assaults on Fallujah, Ramadi, Takrit, Samarra, Ba3quba, Mosul, Tal affar, sinjar or Baghdad

      1. antar2011 Avatar
        antar2011

        to be honest i have not read a lot about iraq invasion and post invasion because back then and still now, it is just too complicated to get my head around things there…something like the lebanese civil war in the 80’s. but i know full well when i saw muqtada al sadr landing in iraqi airport and claiming iraq free, that Iraq had fallen to its persian hatred filled neighbour.

        i am wondering how can Maliki say his statements here about foreig intervention in syria, when Iran and USA are both involved so much in iraqi affairs and when the only way for Saddam to be ousted is by….foreign intervention….the hypocrite pig!

  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    it is interesting to watch the debate on Al Jazeera TV in its program “al wajh al mou3akes” concerning this issue.

    one of the guests was elias zoghbi who i admire and of course i tend to agree with him regarding this issue.

    his opinion was that USA and/Israel is happy for Iran to be powerful i the region (to break arab/sunni land) but on a condition that it does not build nuclear weapons and there is one other condition i cannot remember.

    this leads to him sayig that it is a mistake if anyone thinks that USA is actually defeated in iraq. its withdrawing of soldiers does not mean it has no more interference in iraq in fact everything there has american impreints on it.

    he basically is sayig Iran and USA are working together in Iraq and USA knows full well that Iran will take over Iraq but inder USA’s eyes and as long as it has not WMD. it is also happy to hand it over to Iran as log as it is benefitig from iraq’s resources.

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      From day one US has been using groups closely aligned with Iran, some even created, armed,trained & funded by Iran; SCIRI, Dawa Party, Ahmad Chalbi, Jalal talibani & the list goes on! Then there are those that were created after the Invasion to give Iran more autonomy i.e. Mehdi army specialial groups etc. 

      It is no coincidence nationalist & Sunni cities & neighbourhoods within mixed cities have been the hardest hit, not just by US but also by Iranian allies & al qaida!

      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        to be honest i have not read a lot about iraq invasion and post invasion because back then and still now, it is just too complicated to get my head around things there…something like the lebanese civil war in the 80’s. but i know full well when i saw muqtada al sadr landing in iraqi airport and claiming iraq free, that Iraq had fallen to its persian hatred filled neighbour.

        i am wondering how can Maliki say his statements here when Iran and USA is involved so much in iraqi affairs and when the only was Saddam was ousted is by….foreign intervention….the hypocrite pig!

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