WASHINGTON – Tuesday night President Barack Obama spoke to the American people from the Oval Office regarding one of the most important issues of U.S. foreign policy.  The president announced, finally, an end to the combat mission in Iraq – on time with the previous administration’s agreed upon deadline.

Unlike the infamous “Mission Accomplished” fiasco of the Bush administration, this speech sounded with the resolve and commitment of the White House.  When President George W. Bush gave his ill-fated speech – May 1, 2003 – American troops had only been in Iraq for two months.  When the White House last announced an end to combat operations it did so under the assumption that our troops would be welcomed by the Iraqi people with pomp and circumstance.   

Seven years later, it is clear that this was among the worst miscalculations any administration has ever made. 

We soon found out that this was not to be the case.  In the months that followed the United States found itself committing more and more troops to the country – forsaking Afghanistan in the process.  Casualties from the war began to pile up.  The cost of keeping the fight became more than we could bear. 

Now, the United States is finally drawing this quagmire to a close.  As President Obama stated, “our combat mission has ended, but our commitment to Iraq’s future has not.”  We have removed 100,000 troops from Iraq and have moved millions of tons of equipment to other stations.  Roughly 50,000 troops will remain as peacekeepers tasked with protecting Americans abroad, but they will no longer lead operations of their own within the sovereign territory of the Republic of Iraq. 

The president spent several minutes discussing one aspect of the war that the previous administration never mentioned.   

As the United States dedicated an increasing amount of time, energy, capital and focus into its wars it left its people behind.  President Obama clearly stated that the United States lost several years ignoring domestic needs like energy, education, and fiscal policy.  We did so in order to become more involved in what he called “the darkest of human creations:” war. 

Now, more than ever, is the time to happily say goodbye to Operation Iraqi Freedom.  It began as a mission of regime change to secure a region and a world from the terror of weapons of mass destruction.  It quickly became a tragic failure of nation-building.  The war then morphed into a bloody civil war of our creation.  Yesterday Iraq was an active war zone.  Today, it is transitioning toward a self-contained sovereign peace. 

With pressing concerns at home, and an ongoing war in Afghanistan that is a clear priority for the future, we can finally turn the page on at least one black eye of American history.

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