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| President Barack Obama |
“As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end, for the sake of our national security and to strengthen American leadership around the world,” Obama began. “After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by 2011. As Commander-in-Chief, ensuring the success of this strategy one of my highest national security priorities.
“Last year, I announced the end to our combat mission in Iraq, and to
date we’ve removed more than 100,000 troops. Iraqis have taken full
responsibility for their country’s security.
A few hours ago I spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. I
reaffirmed that the United States keeps its commitments. He spoke of the
determination of the Iraqi people to forge their own future. We are in
full agreement about how to move forward.”
Some stats on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
Some stats on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
- 8 years, 260 days since Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence of Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program
- 8 years, 215 days since the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq
- 8 years, 175 days since President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln
- 4,479 U.S. military fatalities
- 30,182 U.S. military injuries
- 468 contractor fatalities
- 103,142 – 112,708 documented civilian deaths
- 2.8 million internally displaced Iraqi
- $806 billion in federal funding for the Iraq War through FY2011
- $3 – $5 trillion in total economic cost to the United States of the Iraq war according to economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Blimes
- $60 billion in U.S. expenditures lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2000
- 0 weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq
Stats from ThinkProgress, October 21
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