Obama Reaffirms Iraq Drawdown Plan

President Barack Obama emphasized his administration’s plan to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by the end of August during an address Monday in Atlanta, Georgia.

“As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end,” Obama said before an audience of disabled veterans. “I made it clear that by August 31, 2010 America’s combat mission in Iraq would end. And that is exactly what we are doing, as promised, on schedule.”

The President cast meeting the deadline, which would bring troop levels down to 50,000, as the latest in a series of steps to limit the U.S. military presence in the country.

“Already, we have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases. We’re moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we’ve seen in decades. By the end of this month, we’ll have brought more than 90,000 of our troops home from Iraq since I took office,” Obama stated.

Although Obama acknowledged that the U.S. will keep a transitional force within the country until the end of 2011 to help train and bolster Iraqi security forces, the President stressed that the American objective in Iraq is nevertheless undergoing a significant change as combat operations wrap up.

“Make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats,” Obama said.