president obama addressed the nation from the oval office last night, putting an official end to the united states combat role in iraq. the president thanked americans for paying a, quote, huge price during the seven-year war saying it s time to move forward without closing the book on the future of iraq. nbc s tracie potts is in washington with more. tracy, good morning reporter: lynn, good morning. with the military operations in iraq behind us, president obama said last night that looking forward, the next big mission is right here at home. the american combat mission in iraq has ended. reporter: with combat troops now out of iraq, president obama announced a new mission. our most urgent task is to restore our economy and put the millions of americans who lost their jobs back to work. reporter: he blamed massive deficits on financing nearly a decade of war with borrowed money. his focus now, jobs and afghanistan. he promised the pullout there will begin next summ
iraq. tracie potts has more from washington. reporter: lynn, good morning. with the military operations in iraq behind us, president obama made it clear that the next big mission is right here at home. the american combat mission in iraq has ended. reporter: with combat troops now out of iraq, president obama announced a new mission. our most urgent mission is the economy and putting americans back to work. reporter: his focus now? jobs and afghanistan. he promised the pullout there will begin next summer. open-ended war serves neither our interests or the afghan people. reporter: republicans criticized the president for opposing the surge. some leaders who opposed, criticized, and fought tooth and nail against the surge strategy now proudly claim credit for the results. we pledge all we can do always to protect and defend the state of israel. reporter: today, president obama meets with israeli prime minister netanyahu and palestinian president abbas. the
combat in iraq. he thanked americans for paying a huge price for the war. he says it s time to move forward without closing the book on the future of iraq. tr tracie potts in washington with more. . reporter: president obama made it clear, the next big mission is right here at home. the american combat mission in iraq has ended. reporter: with combat troops out of iraq, president obama announced a new task. millions of americans who lost their jobs need to go back to work. reporter: he blamed massive deficits on a decade of war with borrowed money. he promised the pullout in afghanistan will begin next summer. open-ended war serves neither our interests or the afghan people. reporter: he criticized the president for the surge. some leaders who opposed, criticized and fought tooth and nail to stop the surge strategy, now proudly claim credit for the results. reporter: today s focus? the middle east. we pledge to do all we can, always, to protect and defe
hd cam looking north towards the national aquarium. we have ourselves a look at temperatures, 78 degrees in baltimore. 10 degrees cooler in york, pennsylvania. there s your natural air conditioning, 68 there. go to the beach, they re sitting at 80 in ocean city. our hour by hour forecast, mid-70s this morning. noon we re 92. partly cloudy, a stray shower. this afternoon s two-degree guaranteed high, humid 96. here s kim brown with traffic. we re still working our first crash of the morning, happening on the beltway right now. inner loop lane, blocking the left lane at first. causing minor delays on both loops as people on the outer loop are rubbernecking a little bit. wilkins avenue, traffic able to get by at the scene of that earlier crash. as we look at our drive times this morning, no delays on the harbor tunnel thruway. split to 295 will take you six minutes. 15 minute ride down to route 32. on the southwest side of the outer loop, a 7-minute ride between i-70 towards 9
water park in indiana or seeking relief from a water fountain here in new york city. this guy seemed to have the right idea in the detroit river. you can get used to it because it is happening again today. it s hot out there. john hendren seeking shelter from the early morning heat in our washington, d.c. bureau. good morning, john. good morning, jeremy and vinita. for people on the east coast, it s the kind of heat that radiates through your shoes. and it s only likely to get worse. it could be the worst heat wave in decades. brutal. 13 eastern states have issued extreme heat warnings, with baking temperatures today expected to top 100 degrees in new york, new jersey, philadelphia, and washington, d.c. it s hot. i have to wear a hat. i have to put sunscreen on every two or three hours. reporter: in new jersey, a heat watch. in washington, a code red day. by any name, it s a scorcher. hotter and hotter. we re used to the san francisco, 65 and foggy weather.