Iraq War

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - President Obama on Wednesday celebrated the soldiers who fought the Iraq war, marking the fulfillment of a campaign promise to bring home all U.S. forces after a nearly nine-year conflict that killed more than 4,400 American troops. "So as your commander in chief, on behalf of a grateful nation, I'm proud to finally say these two words - and I know your families agree," Obama said. "Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home. " Standing before a sea of paratroopers in maroon berets, the president thanked the troops returning from Iraq and hailed that country's steps toward creating an independent, democratic state.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq - As Iraqi flags were raised in what was once a giant U.S. military base, Joe Biden joined Iraqi officials in honoring forces who the vice president said made it possible to "end this war. " The American military's role here is nearing an end, but Iraqis still must contend with the violence that the nearly nine-year conflict unleashed: 20 people were killed in attacks around the country Thursday. Biden's comments came during a ceremony at Camp Victory, one of the last American bases that will be handed over to the Iraqi government before U.S. troops leave Iraq this month.

WASHINGTON - While all but a small number of U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year, they won't all be home for the holidays as President Obama promised last month. The Pentagon is poised to move at least 4,000 soldiers from Iraq to Kuwait at the end of the year, pending a final decision expected soon by Pentagon and Kuwaiti leaders, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The move is part of a still-developing Pentagon strategy that ends the Iraq war but positions a strong U.S. force just across the border in Kuwait and across the region to reinforce the United States' commitment to the Middle East and prevent a power vacuum when the U.S. forces who have served in Iraq are gone.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday evening for 1st Lt. Patrick L. Smith, a two-time Iraq war veteran who commanded a National Guard company based in Northeast Philadelphia, Lt. Smith was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident last Thursday on I-76 near Broad Street. A resident of Mount Penn, Pa., he commuted to a civilian Defense Department job at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Philadelphia. He twice had to interrupt that job when he was called to active Guard duty to serve in Iraq with the First Battalion of the 111th Infantry.

Eight years ago on a March night, they interrupted our regularly scheduled programs for a breaking news bulletin. We sat before our televisions and watched rockets arc into the skies over Baghdad. Many of us had doubts about the stated and implied causes of the war that began that night: the need to secure Saddam Hussein's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and to retaliate for his part in the Sept. 11 attacks. But, I noted in a column, "We need for George Bush to be right and those of us who are doubtful to be wrong.

An article Friday about baseball fans and Yom Kippur misspelled Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt's name. A chart with Thursday's article about the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war transposed the numbers of U.S. troops wounded in that war and in Iraq. Through July, 32,159 troops were wounded in the Iraq war and 13,011 in Afghanistan, according to iCasualties.org. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357)

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering staging American troops in Kuwait next year as a backup or rotational training force for Iraq, after the Pentagon completes the scheduled withdrawal of its 45,000-strong force from Iraq in December, U.S. officials said. The proposal, not yet publicly announced, is among the options the administration is considering for extending its military-training role in still-violent Iraq, whose divided government has been reluctant to ask Washington directly to keep troops on its soil beyond this year.

When was the last time you spared a thought - any thought, good or ill - for the war in Iraq? It isn't actually over, the war, though it is easy to forget that, given the paucity of U.S. news coverage. Insurgents struck three Iraqi cities only yesterday, killing at least 60 in what analysts think was an attempt to ratchet up the terror level as the U.S. and Iraqi governments discuss a continued American presence in the country past 2011. That's right: Odds are that U.S. troops will still be in Iraq in 2012, two years after the ballyhooed 2010 withdrawal of the last combat brigade.

It's wartime in America. It has been for a decade, but as critics have pointed out, you wouldn't know it at the multiplex. Films about the war on terror have been few and far between. Audiences didn't exactly flock to theaters for World Trade Center (2006), Rendition (2007), Green Zone (2010) or Fair Game (2011). Our leaders told us to mobilize and make sacrifices during WWII, and Hollywood inspired us with exciting, patriotic, propaganda-rich pics such as Destination Tokyo (1943)

The killer who stalked a decorated Iraq war veteran and stabbed him to death in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot, was sentenced Tuesday to life without parole. Sean Burton, 42, of Newark, Del., was found guilty in March in the murder of James Stropas, 32, of Norristown. In June, Stropas, who was dating Burton's estranged wife, had just bought breakfast and was returning to her Springfield Township home when he was attacked and stabbed more than 70 times. In the days leading up to the murder, Burton attached a GPS device to Stropas' car to follow him. In his van was a shovel, hatchet, duct tape, plastic ties, gasoline, and black plastic gloves.