VP Biden in Iraq

The Vice President's schedule, on the official government website, has "No public events" scheduled for today. Yet the newspapers are saying that Biden is now in Iraq.

This is annoying, as frankly the person who does the official web schedules for the VP seems to be doing him a disservice. We should have been alerted, surely, when Biden took off to fly to Iraq? It just makes me wonder how much else Biden is doing on days when his schedule says "No public events." I assumed it meant he wasn't doing anything, except putzing around the Senate, but perhaps he's doing things after all.

Biden in Iraq to Mark End of U.S. Combat Mission

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq today to participate in a ceremony marking the end of the U.S. combat mission there and to push Iraqi leaders to break their political stalemate, according to a White House statement.

President Barack Obama will give an Oval Office address tomorrow on the U.S. role in Iraq as American forces in the country have dropped below 50,000 from about 144,000 at the beginning of the year. All U.S. troops are scheduled to be withdrawn from the country by the end of next year.

This is Biden’s sixth visit to Iraq as vice president. While there, he will meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and other officials “to urge Iraqi leaders to conclude negotiations on the formation of a new government,” the statement said.

Iraqis are facing political uncertainty stemming from a five-month deadlock over the formation of a new government following March 7 parliamentary elections and a renewal in violence as the U.S. completes the pullout of its combat forces.

Sept. 1 marks the official transition of U.S. operations in Iraq from combat to an “advise and assist” role of training Iraqi forces, protecting American interests and conducting counterterrorism operations.

Campaign Promise

Obama campaigned on a promise to end the U.S. combat role in Iraq, which has lasted since the March 2003 invasion to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein and disarm the country of biological and chemical weapons, although no such weapons were found.

The war has cost $750 billion and the lives of more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers. Almost 32,000 U.S. personnel have been wounded.

Biden last visited Iraq in July when he urged Iraqi leaders to resolve their political differences and speed up the formation of a new government.

Obama tomorrow will visit troops at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, the nation’s second-largest military base, before giving the televised address to the nation.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama is commemorating a “milepost” in the conflict as the U.S. mission changes.

With tens of thousands of U.S. troops remaining in the country, Obama has said violence will not stop and many Americans will remain in harm’s way.

“There are still those with bombs and bullets who will try to stop Iraq’s progress,” the president said in Atlanta to Disabled American Veterans on Aug. 2. “The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq.”

--Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Bill Schmick