Category Archives: VP Joe Biden

“I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world.”   ~John F. Kennedy - November 9, 1960

“…But we have also understood that our nation’s strength and influence abroad must be firmly anchored in our prosperity at home. And the bedrock of that prosperity must be a growing middle class.”  ~President Barack Obama – August 31, 2010

Raw Story

WASHINGTON (AP) — Opposed to the war from the start, President Barack Obama on Tuesday formally ended the U.S. combat role in Iraq as promised, declaring: “It is time to turn the page.” He said the nation’s most urgent priority must be fixing its own economy.

In advance excerpts of his prime-time speech to the nation, Obama said the United States “has paid a huge price” to give Iraqis the chance to shape their future. That toll has included more than 4,400 dead, tens of thousands of troops wounded and hundreds of billions of dollars spent since March 2003.

“Ending this war is not only in Iraq’s interest — it is in our own,” Obama said.

Yet for all the finality, the war is not over, and the American sacrifice will continue.

Obama is keeping up to 50,000 troops in Iraq for support and counterterrorism training, and the last forces are not due to leave until the end of 2011 at the latest. Still, he sought to mark Aug. 31, 2010, as a milestone in one of the defining chapters in recent American history.

In a telling sign of the domestic troubles weighing on the U.S., Obama reserved part of his war address to campaign for his efforts to revitalize the economy.

On a night focused on his role as commander in chief, he said his “central responsibility as president” was to get people back to work.

The ending of the combat mission on this date had been known for 18 months. Given the stakes, the toll in American lives and dollars and the long consuming debate, Obama sought to explain it to the country.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” Obama said. He made sure to remind the nation that he had promised to meet this goal and shrink U.S. involvement by now, “and that is what we have done.”   Continue reading…