VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office and also visit troops at Fort Bliss in Texas on Tuesday to mark the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made the announcement Wednesday.
Obama promised in 2009 to end the formal combat mission by Aug. 31, and earlier this week the White House said the number of U.S. troops staged in Iraq had fallen below 50,000.
Iraq is scheduled to assume security for its own territory after next Tuesday, with the U.S. falling into an advisory and backup role.
U.S.-led forces attacked Iraq in March 2003. More than 4,400 U.S. troops have subsequently died in the fighting.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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