From Iraq Veterans Against the War:

Wednesday, President Obama officially announced the end of the Iraq war.  Speaking in front of paratroopers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he said that "everything that American troops have done in Iraq all the fighting and all the dying, bleeding and building, training and partnering – all of it has led us to this moment of success." 

Our troops may be coming home, but the Iraq war is hardly a success.   More than 100,0000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the war. Over a decade of brutal economic sanctions combined with our 9 years of war and occupation has left Iraq's infrastructure devastated with many areas still with intermittent electricity and contaminated water.   Our fight in Iraq has cost the nation nearly 4,500 American lives and left about 32,000 physically wounded plus tens of thousands more suffering from psychological trauma. Every 36 hours, an American soldier commits suicide, and a staggering 18 veterans take their own lives every day.  Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are attempting to transition into civilian life during one of the worst economies in our nation's history.    As veterans and service members of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we know wars don't end with Presidential speeches, and military ceremonies.  That's why during a recent CNN interview,  IVAW member Matt Howard told Kyra Phillips, "Getting out of the military, it took me at least a year or two of trying to negotiate being a civilian again." The challenges facing our veterans and service members are just beginning, and no one is better positioned to bring awareness to these issues and fight for veterans' rights, than Iraq Veterans Against the War.    Despite what President Obama says, for many veterans and service members the war at home is just beginning.