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Obama tries to heal divisive war’s wounds

President’s speech was more than a pronouncement of end to Iraq combat.

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By Jack Torry, Washington Bureau 10:44 PM Tuesday, August 31, 2010

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation Tuesday, Aug. 31, was more than just announcing the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. It also was an effort to heal the deep wounds from America’s most divisive war since Vietnam.

“I am mindful that the Iraq War has been a contentious issue at home,” Obama said in his 20-minute address.

Obama said he spoke earlier in the day with former President George W. Bush, who ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Obama acknowledged that “it’s well-known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset.” But Obama said “no one can doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.”

Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., assailed Democratic lawmakers, including then-Senator Obama, for opposing Bush’s decision in 2007 to dispatch an additional 25,000 troops to Iraq to quell the bloody insurgency and stabilize the country.

“Today we mark not the defeat those voices anticipated, but progress,” Boehner said in a speech before the American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee.

Obama also used the speech to prepare the nation for a continued struggle in Afghanistan, where war has raged since 2001. In December, Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to counter a revived insurgency by the Taliban.

“There are those who are understandably asking tough questions about our mission there,” Obama said. “But we must never lose sight of what’s at stake. As we speak, al-Qaida continues to plot against us, and its leadership remains anchored in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

With his speech, Obama was able to keep his campaign promises to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq while largely adhering to an agreement signed by Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December of 2008. That agreement called for all U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities by June of 2009 and all troops removed from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Avon, who as an House member in 2002 voted against authorizing Bush to use force to invade Iraq, called last night’s address “an important step,” but suggested there may be little political support to keep the remaining U.S. troops in Iraq much longer. “... those 50,000 American men and women deserve to come home as soon as possible,” he said.

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