Bush: War in Iraq on its way to being wonBy Deb Riechmann - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Dec 6, 2008 15:18:35 EST
WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush said Saturday the U.S.-Iraqi security pact approved this week calls for 150,000 American troops to be withdrawn from Iraq in two stages — all by the end of 2011.
The first stage begins next year when U.S. troops pull back from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by the end of June, Bush said in his weekly radio address. The new pact requires all U.S. troops to leave the country by the end of 2011.
“Only a few years ago, such an agreement was unimaginable,” Bush said. “Chaos and violence were consuming Iraq. Terrorists were seizing new ground and using violence to divide the Iraqi people along sectarian lines. And the nation was nearing the point of political collapse and civil war.”
The agreement approved by Iraq’s three-member presidential council goes into effect next month — even though Iraqi voters will have the final say in a referendum by the end of July. It replaces a U.N. mandate that gives the U.S.-led coalition sweeping powers to conduct military operations and detain people without charge if they were believed to pose a security threat.
The war, in its sixth year, has claimed the lives of more than 4,200 U.S. military personnel. It has dominated most of Bush’s presidency and will define his legacy. He credits increased stability in Iraq to last year’s U.S. military buildup, which President-elect Barack Obama opposed.
Rest of article at:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_bush_iraq_120608/%2e