Obama marks end of Iraq war
US President Barack Obama has declared the end of the nearly 9-year Iraq War.
Obama welcomed soldiers home from the war at the US army's Fort Bragg base in North Carolina on Wednesday ahead of the planned withdrawal of all US troops at the end of this month.
The president said that one of the most extraordinary chapters in the history of the American military will come to an end, and that America's war in Iraq will be over.
He said that US forces are leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government elected by its people.
But he admitted that the United States has been divided over the war and that it involved many difficulties.
Some 1.5 million US troops were sent to Iraq in rotation, and 4,500 were killed
