Biden Formally Ends US Combat Mission in Iraq

President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced an agreement on Monday to formally end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year. “I think things are going well. Our role in Iraq will be...to be available to continue to train, to assist, to help, and to deal with ISIS -- as it arrives. But we're not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” Biden said. Little will change on the ground, however, as the roughly 2,500 remaining U.S. troops in Iraq no longer regularly engage in combat and are likely to continue supporting Iraqi forces in an advisory capacity.

Coverage was mostly similar across the spectrum, with several outlets calling the change “symbolic” and discussing the start of the Iraq War in 2003. Coverage in some left-rated outlets focused more on how the announcement was influenced by Iraqi domestic politics. Coverage in some right-rated outlets mentioned that former President Donald Trump lowered the number of U.S. troops in Iraq from 3,000 to 2,500.