Obama Ends War In Iraq

*In a televised address to the nation from the Oval Office, the president said America had paid a huge price for the war begun by George W. Bush to topple Saddam Hussein.

"Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country," he said.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the restoration of sovereignty to Iraq: "Iraq today is sovereign and independent. With the execution of the troop pullout, our relations with the United States have entered a new stage between two equal, sovereign countries."

A ceremony is to be held in Baghdad today, attended by the US vice-president, Joe Biden, and Maliki, to mark the handover of responsibility for military operations from the US to Iraqi forces. Obama, whose early opposition to the invasion helped propel his White House candidacy, presented last night as the near-fulfilment of a key 2008 presidential election campaign pledge to end the war.

"This was my pledge to the American people as a candidate for this office. Last February, I announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of Iraq, while redoubling our efforts to strengthen Iraq's security forces and support its government and people. That is what we have done," he said.

The number of US troops in Iraq has dropped from a high of 170,000 in 2007 to 50,000, whose mission changes from today from combat to assisting the Iraqi army. All 50,000 are scheduled to leave by the end of next year, unless the Iraqi government requests a few hundred or few thousand remain behind.

Around 1.5 million US men and women served in a war the Pentagon in 2003 had promised Bush would be short. There were 4,400 US fatalities, and an Iraqi death toll estimated at 100,000 to several hundreds of thousands. The US had 3.4m pieces of equipment in Iraq last year. That is down to 1.2m now, with bases reduced from 357 to 94.

It was only the second time that Obama has delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, the first when he promised to deal with the BP oil spill in the Gulf.*

*Source: Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian