Obama announces US withdrawal from Iraq

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has declared an end to the Iraq war and said all US troops will be withdrawn from the country by the end of this year.

Mr Obama’s statement ended months of wrangling over whether the US would maintain a force in Iraq beyond 2011.

He never mentioned the tense and ultimately fruitless negotiations with Iraq over whether to keep several thousand US troops in Iraq as a training force and a hedge against meddling from Iran or other outside forces.