U.S. Completes Withdrawal 23 Years After Invading Iraq... Trump: "U.S. Victory"

[Financial News] U.S. troops that had continued military operations of varying scale in Iraq since the 2003 invasion have completed their withdrawal. U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized that the United States and the Iraqi government had won and that he would never keep U.S. troops in Iraq permanently.
On the 30th of last month (local time), Trump said on the social media platform Truth Social, "I am pleased to announce that the last U.S. troops are leaving Iraq today." He added, "A long time has passed since a very bad decision that got us bogged down in the first place, but before long, it will become a page in history."
He emphasized, "Today is a great day for America. It is a victory for the United States, a victory for Iraq and a decisive victory over the Islamic State (IS)."
Trump also mentioned his predecessor, former U.S. President Joe Biden. He pointed out that 13 U.S. service members were killed in a bombing at Kabul airport when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021. Trump claimed, "In Afghanistan, 13 service members were killed and many others were wounded, while a great deal of military equipment and everything else was left behind. At Erbil Air Base, however, the coalition forces and equipment were withdrawn in an orderly manner."
Trump stressed that the Iraq deployment, an operation that "began in 2003 under President George W. Bush and continued under the Barack Hussein Obama and 'Sleepy Joe' Biden administrations in 2014," ended during his term. He claimed, "IS was completely annihilated by the first Trump administration, along with other very bad and dangerous forces."
Regarding the U.S. withdrawal, Trump said, "I had to choose whether to stay or leave, and I felt without question that it was time for the United States to withdraw." He added, "I set a clear mission, gave our commanders the means to accomplish it, and refused to allow a temporary deployment to become a permanent one."
Sean Parnell, a spokesperson for the United States Department of Defense, said in a statement that the United States had ended Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and withdrawn from Erbil Air Base in the Kurdistan autonomous region of northern Iraq. The base was closed along with the final U.S. withdrawal.
The United States withdrew from Iraq in December 2011 after invading the country in 2003. It redeployed troops to Iraq in 2014 for Operation Inherent Resolve to defeat IS. After IS seized about 30% of Iraqi territory, the U.S.-backed Iraqi government requested military assistance from the United States, which then organized an international coalition to conduct operations against IS. In March 2019, during Trump's first term, he declared that IS had been completely eliminated. Beginning in late 2021, the U.S. military ended its combat mission in Iraq and focused on providing military advice and training support.
In a statement, Parnell of the Department of Defense said, "The primary responsibility for addressing the remaining security challenges, including pro-Iran militias and IS remnants that undermine Iraq's sovereignty and regional stability, now lies with the Iraqi government."
In the post, Trump said, "What matters is that we are leaving with our wonderful new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi leading Iraq." He added, "He is someone I supported from the very beginning and for whom I publicly declared my full support."

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