Iraq war veterans praise Obama as U.S. withdraws
A day after the war in Iraq officially ended, two New Hampshire veterans praised President Barack Obama for bringing the troops home with “dignity and honor.”
Portsmouth native Michael Breen and Michael Rodriguez of Hanover spoke on a conference call organized by the Truman National Security Project, described by spokesman David Solimini as “the country's only progressive national security leadership institute.
“We recruit, train and position progressives from around the country to be leaders on issues of national security,” Solomini said,
U.S. Marine Corps and Iraq war veteran Rodriguez said, “Looking back and having come back from there, this is an honorable ending to this.
“The President has done a pretty amazing job in taking down the majority of al-Qaida's leadership and weakening its network.
“Thousands have lost their lives for this and this is certainly a worthy end,” Rodriguez said.
Former U.S. Army Capt. Breen, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he crossed the border into Kuwait leaving Iraq at 3 a.m. on the morning of July 4, 2004, “so I have a sense of the enormity of that feeling that will come when the convoy crosses that border, when they turn in their ammunition, when they can take their body armor off and they know they've made it.
