Iraq will be the main focus of President Obama’s speech tonight.  During much of Obama’s tenure, he has focused military efforts in Afghanistan while trying to reduce American presence in Iraq.  The intent of tonight’s speech is to discuss the combat troop withdrawal in Iraq.¹ 

The important thing to know about this subject is that at 5 p.m. E.T. today, the combat mission in Iraq will officially be over from the American perspective.  The battle in Iraq was a complicated one, but for simplicity’s sake, remember that this is the war that started with Bush’s “shock and awe” event in 2003.

Here’s where you don’t want to misunderstand what is happening: while there will technically be no more “combat troops” in Iraq, the U.S. will still be retaining 50,000 “noncombat” troops on the U.S. base in Iraq.  Naturally, if for no other reason than their own defense, these noncombat troops will be well trained in combat and will still be training Iraqi troops on certain combat efforts.  ForeignPolicy.com summed up tonight’s attempt at transformation best:

“So while the next stage of the Iraq war may be, as Obama described it, a transformation from ‘a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats,’ the actual mission of the remaining troops will stay largely the same: building the capabilities of the Iraqi military and rooting out the extremists.”²

Now that you have some of the facts, read on for more, and if someone starts telling you that America is completely out of Iraq, set them straight.  Nothing stirs up a debate better than discussing America’s involvement in other countries.

Read on:

CNN.com – U.S. combat mission in Iraq nears end

RightWeb – The End of the Iraq Combat Mission?

The surge was George Bush’s controversial attempt in early 2007 to deploy 30,000 ADDITIONAL U.S. troops to Iraq when many of his peers and much of the public was hoping for a withdrawal of some kind.  Hoping to add some stability in and around Baghdad, the surge appears to be viewed in hindsight as a moderate success, but with plenty of caveats.

As with any military action, “success” is very subjective, so I’ll leave it to you weigh the cost of lives and resources for additional freedoms in other countries, potential increased safety in the future, etc.  As always, things are always more complicated than what one paragraph can surmise, so google “the surge” or read more about this topic in the links below.

Read on:

Time

Heritage.org

Prospect.org