WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderObama sets end date for Iraq war

Obama sets end date for Iraq war

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the war in Iraq is coming to an end, and all U.S. combat troops with be out by September of next year.

bama told Marines at Camp Lejeune (lih-ZHOON'), N.C., that the most important decisions about Iraq's future "must now be made by Iraqis."

The plan would see the roughly 100,000 U.S. combat troops leave over the next 18 months, though most will remain in the war zone through the end of this year to ensure national elections set for December go smoothly.

Once the drawdown is complete, a force of up to 50,000 troops will stay in Iraq with a new mission of training, protecting civilians and counterterrorism.

Obama says the U.S. "can no longer see Iraq in isolation from other priorities" such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. He adds that the end of the war may lead to a "new era of American leadership and engagement in the Middle East."

McCain backs Obama's Iraq troop withdrawal plan

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain, who lost the presidency to Barack Obama last fall, is supporting Obama's new plan to pull most U.S. troops out of Iraq by the fall of 2010.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Friday he thinks the plan is "significantly different" from the one Obama pushed during his campaign.

During the campaign, Obama had advocated a complete withdrawal within 16 months of taking office.

McCain said that members of Congress were told in a White House meeting Thursday that the majority of troops in Iraq now would be kept there through the end of the year to protect against violence during Baghdad elections next December. Then, even as troops begin to leave, some 50,000 forces would be kept behind to advise the Iraqi troops.