Obama: U.S. Removing All Troops From Iraq By Year's End

The U.S. will remove all remaining troops from Iraq by the end of the year, President Barack Obama announced Friday afternoon.

“Today I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays,” Obama said during a  short statement fom the White House briefing room

The removal of combat troops began last summer, but the U.S. maintained a force of 50,000 for support. Although the White House outlined a 2011 deadline for teh removal of troops, the U.S. indicated that it was open to keeping a small, extended force of several thousand in the country if requested by the Iraqi government. However, the negotiations eventually dissolved after the Iraqi government refused to offer remaining soldiers immunity. Now, the only American troops that will remain will be those at the country’s U.S. embassy.

Instead, the President said, the U.S. and Iraq will now share a “normal relationship between sovereign nations.”

During his statement Friday, the President, a critic of the initial invasion, noted the U.S. will be leaving the country proudly.

“The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their head held high,” Obama said.