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(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday the United States will fulfill its pledge to pull troops out of Iraq by the end of the year.

"As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," Obama told reporters.

He spoke after a video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and said the two were in full agreement about how to move forward.

Obama said the two countries now move into "a new phase" and that it will be "a normal relationship between sovereign nations. An equal partnership based on mutual interests and mutual respect."

The withdrawal of American troops marks a major milestone in the war that started in 2003 and resulted in the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.

"Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home," Obama said.

"The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops," he said. "That is how America's military efforts in Iraq will end."

The U.S. military role in Iraq has been mostly reduced to advising the security forces in a country where levels of violence had declined sharply from a peak of sectarian strife in 2006-2007, but attacks remain a daily occurrence.

Senior Iraqis say in private they would like a U.S. troop presence to keep the peace between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds in a dispute over who controls oil-rich areas in the north of Iraq.

Obama wrote: "As promised...

Goober McTuber wrote:He is finally ending George Bush's war.

Jane Arraf, a freelance correspondent, wrote in a Dec. 2, 2008 Christian Science Monitor article titled "America's Diminishing Role in Iraq":

"The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) provides the legal basis for US-led troops to operate in Iraq after a wartime United Nations Security Council mandate expires at the end of December. The bilateral agreement essentially transforms the US from acting as an occupier - with sweeping powers to launch military operations, detain Iraqis, and bring equipment in the country at will - to having a more normal relationship with Iraq.

Under SOFA, American forces are to pull back to bases outside Iraq's cities by the end of June 2009 and withdraw entirely from Iraq within three years.

The security pact was the first such agreement since the invasion to outline specific terms for US involvement in Iraq. It was also the first in the region to be publicly debated and approved. Iraqi leaders backed the agreement after reassurances from President-elect Obama that his administration would not try to change the accord negotiated by the Bush administration..."

PORTLAND, Ore. - As the U.S. economy spiraled deeper into recession, Oregonians looking for work in the forestry industry lost out on hundreds of jobs to foreign workers.

They weren't just any jobs. These were jobs paid for by American taxpayers as part of the government's program to stimulate the economy.

Four Oregon companies, all located in the Medford area, racked up more than $7 million in stimulus contracts to clear the forest in Central Oregon. But instead of advertising the jobs to Oregonians, they recruited workers out of state and then hired foreign workers here on a visa.

But the companies did not break the law. A Department of Labor report this week found they utilized loopholes that required them to recruit workers only in the states where the work began.

In this case, the stimulus jobs started outside of Oregon so the companies were not required to advertise the jobs here. As a result, few Americans applied for the work, and the companies did not hire those Americans who applied; instead, they hired 254 foreign laborers for six worksites in Oregon, leaving Americans shut out of the stimulus-funded jobs.

Local loggers near Scappoose said Friday their fellow timber industry workers would have wanted those jobs.

"When they’re using stimulus money, that's not fair or right at all. Stimulus money is tax money," said logger Dennis Mattinen.

"I know guys that were losing their equipment back then because they didn't have any work. And I'm sure they would have done anything to get work," said logger Jeff Heller, who owns his own logging company. "The purpose of that stimulus money was to create jobs, and when it goes to foreign nationals, that's just a crime."

He said at the time the industry probably had 30 to 40 percent unemployment.

Companies had the right to hire foreign workers if they could prove Americans did not want the jobs offered.

As it turned out, only 29 Americans applied for the forest cleanup jobs and none of them accepted the job offer.

KATU News called four companies listed. Only one responded, acknowledging it did not try to hire Oregonians for the jobs here. It said it already had workers on staff to do the jobs – foreign workers who were in America on visas.

The Department of Labor has recommended changing how companies that use foreign workers are required to advertise jobs: Essentially, make them recruit in more places. And it has recommended audits of the companies to make them prove they cannot find Americans for jobs that go to work-visa holders.

trev wrote:So, Goober, does Obama have your vote sealed up now for ending this war?

trev wrote:So, Goober, does Obama have your vote sealed up now for ending this war?