attacked, if n. which we were responding to no declaration of war lacked from the outset any real metric of the declaration of victory. an iraqi wmd or iraqi alliance with al qaeda were lies. we fought them over there so we wouldn't fight them over here or had to, but we still had to fight them over here. the white house today declined to say whether iraq is better off today but the president made clear tonight future choices about that nation's future belong to iraq. >> tonight i am announcing that the american combat mission in iraq has ended. "operation iraqi freedom" is over. and the iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country. >> earlier this month saddam hussein's former right-hand man, tariq aziz, one the foreign minister, now in an iraqi prison for crimes against humanity in his first prison interview told the newspaper "the guardian" his feelings about president obama's decision to end combat