Local vets support U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq

Declaring “I have come to speak to you about how the war in Iraq will end,” President Barack Obama on Friday moved to fulfill the defining promise of his campaign, saying all U.S. combat troops will be withdrawn by the end of August 2010.”Don’t get hopes up,” said Revere resident Jesse Chambers, a National Guardsman who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. Chambers’ brothers Jamie and Jared recently returned from serving in Afghanistan. “Some (soldiers in Iraq) will end up doing a push in Afghanistan. They’ll be sent there where our enemy is located.”Jim Raymond, who lost a loved one in Iraq, knows all too well the human toll of war and is eager to have troops come home.His nephew, Army Specialist Jared Raymond, was the first Swampscott military casualty in the Iraq War. He was killed in action Sept. 19, 2006 in Iraq while serving with the 1st Battalion 66th Armored Regiment 4th Infantry Division. Raymond was killed when an improvised explosive device blew up the tank he was riding in.”This is a spark of light,” he said. “It’s the most positive thing I have heard in a long time. I would love to see them all home. Bring them home safely and in a way that shows respect for everyone who served over there.”In the same speech before Marines and military leadership, Obama announced that the vast majority of those involved in the pullout will not leave this year. Obama also said that tens of thousands of U.S. personnel will remain behind afterward.”The most important decisions that have to be made about Iraq’s future must now be made by Iraqis,” the president said at the sprawling Camp Lejeune, N.C., base, which is about to deploy thousands of troops to the U.S.’s other war front, in Afghanistan.Kathy Trask’s son, Jon Saxton, served in Iraq in 2003. She said there are sinister implications to a pullout.”The danger has gone down but if we pull out, are they going to come out after the ones who are left there?”Lynn resident Elaine Tenney’s son, Nick, also fought in Iraq. He returned home suffering nightmares and his ordeal left Tenney bitter about the war and its duration.”It should have been over 10 years ago with Desert Storm. I just can’t see it happening as quickly as it should,” she said.Senior Obama administration officials had said earlier that of the roughly 100,000 U.S. combat troops to be pulled out of Iraq over the next 18 months, most will remain in the war zone through at least the end of this year to ensure national elections there go smoothly. The pace of withdrawal means that although Obama’s promised pullout will start soon, it will be backloaded, with most troops returning in the last few months of the time frame.And even after the drawdown, a sizable U.S. force of 35,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq under a new mission of training, civilian protection and counterterrorism.With most Americans telling pollsters they believe the long, costly, divisive war was a mistake and more than 4,250 Americans killed there, the Aug. 31, 2010 end date for Iraq war combat operations is slower than Obama had promised voters as a candidate. The timetable he pledged then would have seen combat end in May 2010.Regardless, it is a hastened exit, something Obama called a necessity, both for the future of Iraq and to allow the U.S. to refocus its attention more firmly on Afghanistan.”America can no longer afford to see Iraq in isolation from other priorities: we face the challenge of refocusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan; of relieving the burden on our military; and of rebuilding our struggling economy and these are challenges that we will meet,” he said.Obama applauded the military for its role in an improved situation in Iraq, where violence is down significantly in Baghdad and most of Iraq and U.S. military deaths have plunged.He also acknowledged that many problems remain in the country and said “there will be difficult days ahead.” Those include violence that will remain “a part of life,” political instability and fundamental u