End Of Operations in Iraq.

President Obama announced today that combat operations in Iraq were at an end. He also spoke about the continuing mission for our soldiers in Afghanistan. The change has been anticipated for many months but US troops are still going to be in Iraq for a while during the slow return home for many.

The war Iraq has been going on for as long as many of the younger generations that are entering high school have been alive. There had been talk of a exit plan, but how to exit without completely giving up our position in the region and ensuring the local Iraqi forces will be able to continue the work the US has started.

There should be a reduction in the number of troops stationed in Iraq,  as a complete withdrawal would possibly undermine what the US has been striving to achieve, and what so many of our young men and women have fought and given their lives for.

Returning soldiers will now have a new mission once they have been given time to rest and be reunited with their loved ones. The focus is expected to shift to Afghanistan and the region to buildup US forces to assist our troops who have been stationed in the area for almost as long as those in Iraq.

Whatever the future holds for our military, at least knowing that our brave and courageous soldiers will finally be coming home, even if to only be redeployed to another region of the world, to bring freedom to the peaceful allies we have in that area and preventing the growth of terrorist groups such as Al Qaida, ensuring on the 9th anniversary of 911 that the events that shook our country to its core, never occur again.