"Biden Welcomes Troops Home from Iraq"

[Cha]

<snip>

"The White House kicked off Wednesday a month of events intended to mark the reduction of United States forces in Iraq, the culmination of a campaign promise that helped vault Barack Obama to the presidency.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who runs Iraq policy for President Obama, flew to Fort Drum in upstate New York to welcome home returning troops as the United States races to an end-of-August deadline to formally end its combat mission and hand over security duties to Iraqi forces.

<snip>

Although 50,000 American troops will remain after August, Mr. Biden said Iraq’s fate is now in its own hands. “God willing, and with your help, the worst of their struggles are now behind them,” he said. “And it is now up to their political leaders to match the courage their citizens have shown and deserve to see in return.”

The transition next month is in some ways symbolic as Iraqi security forces already are increasingly taking the lead in fighting insurgents and the remaining American troops could still see combat in certain instances even after August. But the transition will complete the first phase of the withdrawal Mr. Obama set in motion after taking office, bringing the 145,000-member force he inherited down to 50,000 until they too are pulled out by the end of 2011."

<read more>
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/biden-welcomes-troops-back-home/

It is the dawn of a new era~