President Barack Obama declared an end to the seven-year US combat mission in Iraq and told war-weary Americans that our central mission as a people is to restore the sagging US economy and US must focus on its fight against al Qaeda and the war in Afghanistan. Obama, who inherited the war from President George W. Bush and is fighting another in Afghanistan, said he had fulfilled a 2008 campaign promise to end US combat operations in Iraq. After seven years of bloodshed that has brought sacrifice from Americans and Iraqis and consumed vast resources from tight budgets, Obama said that Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country. Obama hailed the removal of all but 50,000 U.S. troops, who will have a training and advisory role, saying that this was my pledge to the American people as a candidate for this office. Obama has promised to pull all US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. The effective change on the ground will not be huge because the U.S. military has already been switching the focus toward training and support over the past year. Iraqi forces have been taking the lead since a bilateral security pact came into force in 2009.
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