U.S. combat operations in Iraq will come to an end

US President Barack Obama speaks at the Disabled Veterans of America Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 2, 2010

President Obama announced this morning that he will fulfill his campaign promise of ending the war in Iraq and vowed that by August 31st, only 50,000 military personnel will remain there. Although there is not yet political stability in Baghdad, Obama will transition the U.S. military’s role from combat to advising Iraqi security forces. Then, by the end of 2011 all American forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from the country. But, with Iraq’s political impasse showing no signs of ending, will Obama succeed in helping to implement a newly elected Iraqi government by then?

President Obama announced this morning that he will fulfill his campaign promise of ending the war in Iraq and vowed that by August 31st, only 50,000 military personnel will remain there. Although there is not yet political stability in Baghdad, Obama will transition the U.S. military’s role from combat to advising Iraqi security forces. Then, by the end of 2011 all American forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from the country. But, with Iraq’s political impasse showing no signs of ending, will Obama succeed in helping to implement a newly elected Iraqi government by then?

Guests:

Liz Sly, LA Times reporter, Baghdad bureau

Matthew Duss, National Security Researcher/Blogger at the Center for American Progress (CAP)

Tom Donnelly, director of the Center for Defense Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)