The NYDailyNews reports:
WASHINGTON – A somber President Obama declared an end to the long and costly Iraq war Tuesday night, pledging he now intends to “turn the page” to America’s economic revival.
“The American combat mission in Iraq has ended,” Obama told the nation in an 18-minute address, only his second from the Oval Office. “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have responsibility for the security of their country.”
The U.S. will help Iraq develop a stable government and keep up the increasingly difficult fight in Afghanistan, he pledged. But Obama asserted that “our central mission as a people and my central responsibility as President” is reinvigorating the limping economy at home.
“Today, our most urgent task is to restore our economy and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work,” he said.
