US President Barack Obama said Monday that America’s troops were coming home after a decade of war, as he marked Memorial Day, the annual commemoration of fallen and missing warriors.
Obama noted that US troops were no longer fighting Iraq, and remembered his nation’s first and last victims of that divisive conflict, adding that he was “winding down” America’s war in Afghanistan.
After sweeping to power in 2008 partly owing to his promise to end the war in Iraq, Obama followed through by bringing the final US soldiers home last year.
“For the first time in nine years, Americans are not fighting and dying in Iraq,” Obama said.
“We are winding down the war in Afghanistan and our troops will continue to come home,” Obama said, after laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns, in Arlington National cemetery outside Washington.
After a decade under the dark clouds of war, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon,” Obama said at the cemetery, a final resting place for US war dead and veterans, which features many fresh graves from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama is highlighting his honored promise to end the Iraq war, and plan to get US combat troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, to bolster his leadership credentials as he faces reelection in November.
But the president, who also serves as commander-in-chief of US forces, noted that for relatives of the fallen, the end of America’s foreign wars, may hold little consolation.
“Especially for those who have lost a loved one, this chapter will remain open long after the guns have fallen silent,” Obama said, speaking from a memorial amphitheater at the cemetery.
Obama singled out for special mention four US marines who died when their helicopter crashed early in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, making them the first US servicemen of the nearly 4,500 US troops who would die in the war.
The president also mentioned Army specialist David Hickman, who became the last American soldier to die in Iraq last year, when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
“I cannot begin to fully understand your loss,” Obama told relatives of the fallen.
“As a father, I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to hear that knock on the door and learn that your worst fears have come true.”
In return for the sacrifices of their loved ones, Obama told relatives that he would take the “wrenching” decision to send troops away to war only if it was absolutely necessary.
Obama’s Republican opponent in November’s presidential election, Mitt Romney, also issued a message, as he joined Vietnam war hero, and defeated 2008 Republican candidate Senator John McCain to mark Memorial Day in San Diego.
“A lot of young Americans are risking their lives in distant battlefields today,” Romney said in the statement.
“Memorial Day is a day to give thanks to them, and to remember all of America’s soldiers who have laid down their lives to defend our country.
“As we enjoy our barbecues with friends and families and loved ones, let’s keep them in our thoughts and in our prayers.”
source-yahoo news
