President Barack Obama has honoured America's 'fighting and dying, bleeding and building' in Iraq, hailing the 'extraordinary achievement' of a war he had opposed.
Obama, marking the final US withdrawal from Iraq with returning troops, also remembered the "heavy cost" of the war, and said America must learn the lessons of the conflict, which carved deep divides in US and global politics.
"It is harder to end a war than to begin one," said Obama, who made the responsible end of a conflict that dragged on for nearly nine years his core political promise.
"Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq - all the fighting and dying; bleeding and building; training and partnering - has led us to this moment of success," the US commander-in-chief said on Wednesday.
"We are leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people," Obama added, surrounded by the Red Berets of 82nd Airborne troops in North Carolina.
"We are building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home.
"This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making. And today, we remember everything that you did to make it possible."
Obama also remembered the "heavy cost" of the war, including the 4500 US soldiers killed in Iraq.
"Today, we pause to say a prayer for all those families who have lost a loved one, for they are all a part of our broader American family," he said.
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