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US combat troops to pull out of Iraq by next year
Paul Thompson in Miami27.02.09
President Barack Obama will today announce combat operations in Iraq will end on 31 August 2010.
He will order an immediate withdrawal of some of the 142,000 troops in Iraq and has said no more than 50,000 will be left by that date. Those who remain will be in support roles and American troops will no longer have combat missions.
Mr Obama met Congress leaders yesterday to outline his plan to end the war. He told them the support troops remaining in the country would help Iraqi security forces and carry out some counter terrorism missions.
The President will announce the immediate withdrawal of troops during a speech at the Marine base of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
His announcement follows the lifting of a ban on photographs of the flag-draped coffins carrying American soldiers.
Mr Obama reversed a ban imposed by President George Bush senior in 1991 that was widely seen as the government trying to hide the human cost of war. Families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will be given the final say if the coffins can be photographed.
Any American soldier killed overseas arrives back at Dover Air Force base in Delaware before being taken to their home town for burial. At the height of the violence in Iraq up to half a dozen coffins were returning every week.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Mr Obama asked Defence Secretary Robert Gates to review the policy of media coverage. He said Mr Gates decided on a policy similar to the one at Arlington National Cemetery which gives families the final say.
Veterans groups welcomed the lifting of the ban. "All too often, the sacrifices of our military are hidden from view," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
"The sight of flag-draped coffins is, and should be, a sobering reminder to all Americans of the ultimate sacrifice our troops have made and the high price of our freedom."
Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg lobbied Mr Obama to lift the ban. "Every flag-draped coffin represents a family that will never again share a moment with their spouse, child or sibling," he said.
"We should honour - not hide - flag-draped coffins. They are a symbol of the respect, honour and dignity that our fallen heroes deserve."
Mr Obama unveiled an almost $4 trillion tax-raising budget yesterday that raises the national deficit to its highest since the Second World War and cuts military spending. The President is also planning a costly overhaul of the healthcare system and will spend billions to stop the economy's freefall.
A $1.75 trillion deficit for this year, which amounts to 12.3 per cent of the economy, provoked strong protests from Republicans.
