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WASHINGTON — President Trump hailed the final withdrawal of US troops from Iraq Wednesday — telling guests at the White House that “we’re getting the hell out of there” and insisting his war with Iran won’t drag on for more than two decades like the invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein
“It was a quagmire. Many, many years it lasted, but soon that part of history will be over,” Trump said at a Hispanic heritage celebration, recounting the US invasion of 2003 and subsequent anti-insurgency campaigns.
“We’re getting the hell out of there,” the president went on, calling Iraq “a place where we probably shouldn’t have gone.”
“This day is a victory for the United States. It’s a victory for Iraq and a decisive victory over ISIS,” he added.
“This orderly departure of coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base marks the end of a very expensive excursion into hell.”
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Trump then compared and contrasted the Iraq war, in which 4,500 US service members were killed, with Operation Epic Fury against Iran, where he said “we have been there for six months with 18 killed.”
“We have a war [with Venezuela] that was over in 148 minutes,” he continued. “We have another one where we’re six months in… and we’re going to have that war won very quickly, one way or the other.”
