Obama reaffirms Iraq pullout
President marks end of one mission as Afghan war frustration grows
By Peter Baker - New York Times News Service ATLANTA — President Barack Obama on Monday opened a monthlong drive to mark the end of the combat mission in Iraq and, by extension, to blunt growing public frustration with the war in Afghanistan by arguing that he could also bring that conflict to a conclusion.

The series of events, starting with a speech here to a veterans' group, puts the president in the thick of a volatile national security debate at a critical moment for both wars as he draws down troops from one theater and sends more to the other. While seeking to shore up domestic support, he is also defining the limits of his ambitions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama vowed to complete his plan to withdraw designated combat forces from Iraq by the end of August "as promised and on schedule" even though a political impasse has left Baghdad without the permanent government his strategy originally envisioned. At the same time, he vowed to destroy al-Qaida in Afghanistan while sticking to "clear and achievable" goals rather than aspiring to build a fully functioning democracy.
Charles Dharapak
AP - President Barack Obama speaks about Iraq and Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010, at the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
The president's renewed public focus on the wars comes after many months in which his domestic agenda was at the center of the national conversation. But the White House calculated that the drawdown in Iraq and the change in mission there this month provided an opportunity to take credit for fulfilling one of Obama's central campaign promises even as war fatigue takes its toll.

"As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end," Obama told a convention of the Disabled American Veterans here. "Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility. And I made clear that by August 31, 2010, America's combat mission in Iraq would end. And that is exactly what we are doing, as promised and on schedule."

The drawdown will bring the U.S. force in Iraq to 50,000 troops by Aug. 31, down from 144,000 when Obama took office. The remaining "advise and assist" brigades will officially focus on supporting and training Iraqi security forces, protecting U.S. personnel and facilities, and mounting counterterrorism operations.

The U.S. mission will formally change its name from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn, and the 50,000 transitional troops are due to leave by the end of 2011, in accordance with an agreement negotiated by President George W. Bush before leaving office and later reaffirmed by Obama.

While not the end of the U.S. involvement, the transition in Iraq this month represents a significant milestone after seven years of war that toppled a brutal dictator, touched off waves of sectarian strife and claimed the lives of more than 4,700 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

In his speech here, Obama hailed the improved security in Iraq without mentioning that he had opposed the 2007 troop buildup ordered by Bush, which along with a strategy change, is credited by many with turning the war around. Obama has now assigned the architect of that plan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, to do the same in Afghanistan.

Republicans were happy to remind Obama of his opposition to the Iraq buildup, circulating his quotations from the time.

"It's worth remembering that prior to the full deployment of this force, some Democrats were already declaring the surge the president is referring to today a complete failure," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Nonetheless, Obama has adopted Iraq as a relative success story, and aides said he would speak about it several times in August.



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