Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ has been accomplished and now the USA will concentrate on restoring the economy and coping with unemployment, President Barack Obama said.
Last week Obama made a speech to the nation, informing it about the end of the military operation in Iraq. In late August the US saw 90,000 service personnel return from Iraq, leaving 50,000. The remaining forces will stay until the end of 2012 to provide security for US civilian specialists and the diplomatic corps, as well as teaching Iraqi security forces, RIA Novosti reports.
The US administration is now trying to boost the economy. The government of Obama has been heavily criticized by their political opponents – the Republicans. The mid-term elections to Congress will be held in early November.
The president reminded the American people about his promise to finish the war in Iraq. It was reported earlier that on Tuesday Obama made a telephone call to the 43rd US President, George W. Bush, who had made the decision to send forces to Iraq. Officials did not reveal the details of the conversation.
A total of 4,421 service personnel and approximately a thousand civilian specialists from the US died in Iraq, with the total number of coalition forces lost in Iraq standing at 4,700. The US media give different figures of total losses: from 100 to 300 thousand, including civilians. At the same time, according to the World Health Organization, in the period of 2003-2006 the number of Iraqi's killed ranges from 150 to 223 thousand.
The highest number of US forces in Iraq at one time was 170,000. 49 countries participated, the largest forces belonging to the UK (up to 45,000), Italy (up to 3,200), Poland, (up to 2,500), Georgia (up to 2,000) and Austria (up to 2,000). Since August only US forces have been remaining in Iraq.
