Barack Obama, Iraq-us War | featured news

President Obama's campaign is saluting his VFW speech today with a video promoting his policies toward veterans. The three-minute video emphasizes the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and testimonies from military members who back Obama. "Since day one, President Obama has made it a priority to keep the sacred trust we hold with those who wear the uniform of the United States and their families," says the campaign.

He says the U.S. "has paid a huge price" to give Iraqis the chance to shape their future - a price that now includes more than 4,400 U.S. dead.

President Barack Obama said on Saturday Iraq could "chart its own course" and told Americans the drawdown of U.S. troops helped fulfill a promise he made during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Nearly two years after he won the White House promising to end the war in Iraq, President Obama on Monday plans to mark the formal end of the combat mission there.

President Barack Obama said on Saturday Iraq faced difficult days ahead after taking control of its towns and cities from U.S. forces but he pledged to remain a strong partner on behalf of the country's security and prosperity.

The United States' top military officer said on Sunday he was "comfortable" with President Barack Obama's plan to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq in 18 months.

President Obama's planned announcement Friday to remove most U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August 2010 will free up more forces for the worsening fight in Afghanistan and help the Army end a policy that holds soldiers past enlistment periods, military officials and experts say.

CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 18 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.