90.000 U.S. troops are home from Iraq War since Obama took office -- Weekly Radio Address (August 28, 2010)

Web posting at www.washingtonpost.com/ by Anne Kornblut (White House correspondent)

Obama will deliver a major address to the nation on Tuesday night (August 31, 2010) highlighting his 2007-8 campaign promise to bring the war to a close. "As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war. As president, that is what I am doing," Obama said in his weekly address, setting the stage for next week's speech. He said the United States is taking "an important step forward" as the last combat brigades leave the country, saying it will "mark the end of America's combat mission in Iraq."

For Obama, the shift to Iraq is an effort to celebrate good news. With little more than two months until the midterm elections, there has been a steady drumbeat of negative economic developments -- including a slumping housing market, stalled business spending and, on Friday, an announcement that the economy had grown more slowly this spring than anticipated.
Obama, vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, released a taped address (called the Weekly Radio Message but also Online since 2009) that focused on the needs of veterans returning from the war. He will also travel to Fort Bliss, Texas -- home of the 1st Armored Division -- on Tuesday to meet with troops, including some who will have an ongoing role in Iraq despite the official end to combat. Tens of thuosands of U.S. troops are still in Iraq, a fact that critics on both sides of the ideological spectrum have said undercuts the argument that the war is ending.
At the same time, Iraq remains a political mess. No government has been formed in the five months since elections were held and there are still outbreaks of deadly violence, though fewer than there were before the surge began three years ago.
Still, Obama embraced the positive steps -- and his own role in making good on a campaign pledge.
"We have brought home more than 90,000 troops since I took office. We have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases. In many parts of the country, Iraqis have already taken the lead for security," Obama said. "In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts.
"But the bottom line is this: the war is ending. Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course. And by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home," Obama said. "As we mark the end of America's combat mission in Iraq, a grateful nation must pay tribute to all who have served there. Because part of responsibly ending this war is meeting our responsibility to those who have fought it."