President told an audience of soldiers at Fort Bragg that the final pullout after nearly nine years of conflict is a 'historic' moment
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Obama hinted at the military and diplomatic quagmire he inherited from a Bush administration that had promised Americans a quick and easy war that would see Iraqis scattering flowers at the feet of US soldiers. Instead, the American invasion unleashed a conflict - part civil war, part anti-occupation - that dragged on for years.
But the president, who came to power promising to end the war, said that for all the suffering, the result was success.
"We knew this day would come. We've known it for some time. But still there is something profound about the end of a war that has lasted so long," said Obama. "It's harder to end a war than begin one. Everything that American troops have done in Iraq - all the fighting, all the dying, the bleeding and the building and the training and the partnering, all of it has landed to this moment of success."
Obama's studiously avoided declaring victory or the hubris of his predecessor, George Bush, who paraded under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" just as the worst of the killing in Iraq was about to begin. But the president said that the US has left Iraq better than it found it.
"Iraq's not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we're leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self reliant Iraq with a representative government that was elected by its people. We're building a new partnership between our nations and we are ending a war not with a final battle but with a final march toward home. This is an extraordinary achievement," he said.
That interpretation is strongly disputed by critics of the way who say the conflict has destabilised the region, strengthened Iran and exposed
US military shortcomings which may encourage future conflict. It is also claimed by critics that the war has strengthened hostility to the US and fueled not deterred terrorism.