WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Six years after U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, President Barack Obama will announce on Friday the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces by August 2010, administration officials said.
The 19-month timetable marks a historic juncture in an unpopular war that has proven enormously costly to America and defined the presidency of George W. Bush. It has been a huge drain on the Treasury, cost the lives of some 4,250 U.S. soldiers and severely damaged America's standing in the world.
"The president will announce that the current combat mission in Iraq will end on August 31, 2010. At that point, the remaining forces in Iraq will undertake a new mission, a more limited mission," a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Obama is due to make the announcement at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, from where 8,000 Marines are to be deployed as part of a troop buildup in Afghanistan to arrest the deteriorating security situation there.
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