"One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.
All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn’t deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job – the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other – because you can’t charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there’s someone behind you, watching your back.
So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I’m reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those fifty stars and those thirteen stripes. No one built this country on their own. This Nation is great because we built it together. This Nation is great because we worked as a team. This Nation is great because we get each other’s backs. And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we’re joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong."
Obama. (via kayleyhyde)
![thedailywhat:
War Is Over of the Day: After nearly nine years of bloodshed, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared the US war in Iraq to be over.
The announcement was made during a symbolic ceremony which saw the lowing of the American flag in Baghdad.
“After a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real,” Panetta said. “To be sure, the cost was high — in blood and treasure for the United States, and for the Iraqi people. Those lives were not lost in vain.”
Of the 1.5 million US troops who served in Iraq over the years, just under 4,500 were killed in action. As many as 30,000 were wounded. Scores of soldiers from other coalition countries lost their lives as well.
On the Iraqi side, over 16,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces died. Tens of thousands more were wounded.
The exact number of Iraqi civilians killed or wounded during the war may never be known, but is believed extremely high.
Though December 15th will be henceforth mark the end of the Iraq War, some 15,000 people will remain behind to operate the US embassy, making it the largest of its kind in the world.
[msnbc / wapo / theatlantic / photo: csmonitor.]
awesome! only TEN YEARS in the making.](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw92eqs91g1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
