| Top Iraqi and US leaders met in Baghdad on Thursday to mark the departure of remaining American troops. The ceremony was held at Camp Victory, which was the final American-controlled base in the country. A remaining 13000 US troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of December as part of a mutual agreement between Iraq and the United States. The departure of US troops comes nine years after the US invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, in 2003. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, vowed that Iraq will adhere to the agreements that Iraq signed with the United States. "As we bid farewell to our American friends, who made a great contribution towards achieving the change, we would like to express our gratitude to them and we would like to send our regards to the great American people, President Barack Obama and the Congress. And we vow that Iraq, which has achieved national sovereignty, will be committed to the agreements and it will be a friend to the United States of America," Talabani said. Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, says that the withdrawal of US soldiers will build a better relationship between the two countries. "The withdrawal of the US troops will usher in a new phase in the relationship between Iraq and United States of America, in which the strategic framework agreement will be the cornerstone of bilateral relationship the two countries, and which includes political, economic, commercial, cultural and scientific sectors that will boost ... |
