Previewing Obama's speech to the DAV
Published: August 2, 2010
President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a "major speech" at 11:30 this morning to the Disabled American Veterans convention in Georgia. It'll be his first address before the group, which boasts 1.2 million members and is still unfortunately adding more disabled veterans to its ranks with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On Friday VA Secretary Eric Shinseki sat down with me to detail some of the successes and shortfalls within his department that the president will discuss in the speech. But White House officials said Obama will also focus largely on Iraq, and the end of the combat mission there later this month.
Obama will say the U.S. presence in Iraq is "nearing an end" even though military forces will remain there until the end of 2011."There are still those with bombs and bullets who will try to stop Iraq’s progress. The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq. But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing -- from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats."
In January 2009 the U.S. had 112,000 troops in Iraq, 3.4 million pieces of equipment and more than 350 bases under its control. By the end of August, the White House notes, the country will have 62,000 fewer troops and a fraction of the military footprint left in country.
Obama will also call for more funding and focus on veterans programs, although details on that issue still have not been released. "As we mark the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq, a grateful America must pay tribute to all who served there. For our nation has had vigorous debates about the Iraq War. There are patriots who supported going to war, and patriots who opposed it. But there has never been any daylight between us when it comes to supporting the more than one million Americans in uniform have served in Iraq -- far more than any conflict since Vietnam."
You can watch the speech (and the rest of the convention) live over at the DAV website.
Due to a switchover to a new comment system, this comment board is now closed.
