President George W. Bush has announced that combat operations in Iraq have ended, but has stopped short of formally declaring victory.

In a speech to troops aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln at sea off the coast of San Diego, California, Bush thanked “the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, who shared in the hardships of war”.

Bush spoke within sight of a “Mission Accomplished” banner.

A declaration of victory under international law would mean that the US would be obliged to repatriate prisoners of war.

Bush argued that American military power now enabled precision attacks that prevented civilian casualties. He said: “Today, we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime. With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians. No device of man can remove the tragedy from war; yet it is a great moral advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent.” [Read more...]