\Last US Combat Troops Leave Iraq (click title to entry - thank you)
Dan Robinson
Washington
18 August 2010
Two weeks ahead of the schedule set by President Barack Obama, the last U.S. combat troops have left Iraq. The departure fulfills a commitment that Mr. Obama made to transition the U.S. presence in Iraq from a military-led mission to an advisory and training operation.
U.S. news agencies and television networks embedded with departing troops confirmed the withdrawal, as the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which was officially designated as the last brigade to leave Iraq, crossed into Kuwait at the Khabari border crossing.
The departure is well ahead of the August 31st deadline set by President Obama for ending combat operations, and comes seven years and five months after the U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq in March 2003.
The news came at the end of an otherwise quiet news day in which President Obama was concluding a multi-state cross country trip focused on the U.S. economy and supporting Democratic political candidates.
Neither the president nor officials traveling with him gave any indication in advance of the accelerated withdrawal, nor did the White House issue any immediate statement...
