What's the difference between US soldiers who slaughtered 24 civilians, including women and children and a man in a wheelchair, and the US soldier who helped expose such atrocities?

No victory in Iraq but the US remains the world's biggest military power and, even in the depths of economic crisis, a superpower threatened with losing its status remains dangerous.

Obama says the Iraq war was an "extraordinary" achievement showing what makes "us special as Americans". Try telling that to the women of Iraq.

US Marine Ross Caputi reflects on Fallujah in Iraq, where he was deployed in the 2004 attack that killed thousands, displaced hundreds of thousands more and poisoned the city with chemical weapons.

Are the attacks sectarian in motive and a reflection of sectarian hatred on the streets, or are they designed to create sectarian entrenchment and animosity, and ignite street conflict.

Jeremy Corbyn MP says the chaos and violence in Iraq are a direct result of an illegal war and the eight-year occupation which even after the withdrawal of US troops, is not over.

What shapes Americans' opinions about any war is not that it is wrong and an independent country has been invaded, flattened, millions murdered and thousands tortured: it was wrong because the US lost.

Obama spoke of suffering, sacrifice, loss and pain -- but only for Americans and their families. He did not say a single word -- not one -- about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed by this "extraordinary achievement", this "success".

Iraqi dissident and exile Sami Ramadani says Obama, who opposed initially the Iraq war, today enthusiastically continues the policies of the two war criminals, Bush and Blair.

George Galloway told Tony Blair in 2003 the fall of Baghdad would be not the beginning of the end but merely the end of the beginning and the invasion of Iraq would be the Mother of All Blunders.

There is a huge gap between rhetoric and reality surrounding the US departure from Iraq. For the short term at least the US is definitely remaining in the country.

Summing up nearly a decade of butchery, Obama hides behind the worn-out "support the troops" smokescreen with no mention of nine years of mass slaughter and $800 billion.

The neocons' grand plan to use the 2003 invasion to turn the country into a secure pro-western democracy and a garrison for US bases that could put pressure on Syria and Iran lies in tatters.

America's military efforts in Iraq aren’t coming to an end, they are entering a new phase. The Obama administration hopes that you won’t be so rude as to call it "war."

"The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their head held high, proud over their success," says Obama, supposing you can call one million dead, 4 million refugees and a country in ruins a "success".

Lawyer Phil Shiner, who is representing over 150 Iraqis who were tortured by the British army in Iraq, says shocking and illegal interrogation took place in over 14 different military facilities.