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=Obama congratulates Iraq troops=


 * US President Barack Obama arrived at Fort Bliss, Texas today, offering troops stationed there congratulations on a job well done" in Iraq while adding that critical work remained to be done to rebuild the country.**

“Iraq has an opportunity to create a better future for itself and America is more secure,” Mr Obama told soldiers during his visit to the Army post.

Hours before delivering an Oval Office address on the drawdown of combat troops in Iraq, Obama told soldiers at Fort Bliss that the US. would continue to fight terrorists but made it clear that the combat mission in Iraq has come to an end.

However, US involvement in Iraq will continue as critical work remained for the Iraqi people to rebuild their country, Mr Obama said.

“We're going to have to protect our civilians, our aid workers and our diplomats who are over there, who are still trying to expand and help what's going to be a long road ahead for the Iraqi people in terms of rebuilding their country,” Mr Obama told soldiers gathered in a Fort Bliss cafeteria.

He said that the main message in his prime time speech would be to offer congratulations to the troops.

“There has not been a single mission that has been assigned to all of you in which you have not performed with gallantry, with courage, with excellence,” he said.

Although combat efforts have come to an end in Iraq, the fight will continue in Afghanistan, Mr Obama said, noting he would address the mission there in his speech.

Mr Obama acknowledged that the continued effort in Afghanistan would “mean some casualties” and “some heartbreak”, but said that the US is willing to make sacrifices for its security.

“It is going to be a tough slog, but what I know is that after 9/11, this country was unified in saying we are not going to let something like that happen again," Mr Obama said. “And we are going to go after those who perpetrated that crime, and we are going to make sure that they do not have safe haven.”

Yesterday Mr Obama visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC where he awarded 11 Purple Hearts to soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Although violence has surged ahead of the handover of the mission to Iraqi authorities, a White House official said today that recent attacks in Iraq have not fundamentally altered or thrust the country into sectarian war, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

While violence has increased, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said, the al Qaeda attacks have failed to "fundamentally alter the security situation, they have not sparked a sectarian war, they have not led to a loss of confidence of the Iraqi people".

Shortly after coming into office in 2009, Mr Obama pledged to end combat operations in Iraq by the end of this month, bringing "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to an end.

The withdrawal of the last US combat brigade this month was hailed as a symbolic moment for the American presence in Iraq, more than seven years after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The Summary Barack Obarma arrived at Fort Bliss, congratulations the troops on a job well done. Obarma told the soldiers at Fort Bliss that the US. would continue to fight terrorists but made it clear that the combat mission in Iraq has come to an end. He said that the main message in his prime time speech would be to offer congratulations to the troops. “There has not been a single mission that has been assigned to all of you in which you have not performed with gallantry, with courage, with excellence,” he said. "Although combat efforts have come to an end in Iraq, the fight will continue in Afghanistan," Mr Obama said. Obama acknowledged that the continued effort in Afghanistan would “mean some casualties” and “some heartbreak”, but said that the US is willing to make sacrifices for its security. Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC where Obarma awarded 11 Purple Hearts to soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. While violence has increased, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said, the al Qaeda attacks have failed to "fundamentally alter the security situation, they have not sparked a sectarian war, they have not led to a loss of confidence of the Iraqi people". The withdrawal of the last US combat brigade this month was hailed as a symbolic moment for the American presence in Iraq, more than seven years after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

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