Baghdad declared October 1 a day of celebration, ending 23 years of American military presence since the March 2003 invasion. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump hailed a 'victory' for both countries.
Page A2From§Eachthe supper edition — 2 October 2026
Mission accomplished 2003, major combat ended 2018, last troops out 2026: Trump hails victory for both countries
As it ran on the front
Today we are making a twenty-three-year war, and I will take it in order, because the order is the whole dish. Baghdad has declared the first of October a day of celebration: the last American troops are gone, twenty-three years after the invasion of March 2003. The American president, Donald Trump, hailed a "victory" for both countries.
You will need one invasion; one speech, known at home ever since as the Mission Accomplished speech; one veto; one promise; one declared end to major combat operations; and two governments at the finish, which is more than most dishes require.…
The Poet A victory verse. I have been drafting one since the spring, and I'll not be hurried by people who finish things in an afternoon.
The Punk You've been drafting since before the boiler went. That's not a verse, mate, that's an occupation.
Begin four years in. On the first of May 2007, the fourth anniversary of that speech, President George W. Bush vetoed the war funding measure, citing the provisions setting a deadline for the withdrawal of troops. A veto, which is the one signature that sends a bill back to the people who wrote it, does not separate the parts: the same measure improved the standards for resting, training and equipping combat troops before deployment, and set binding benchmarks for the Iraqi government. All of it went on the floor together, in front of everyone. A deadline written into a funding bill will not keep; it goes first.
The Hippie An occupation is exactly what this house is, and it was always going to end like this, me on the rota three weeks running and nobody saying a word.
The Fixer Three weeks on the rota is leverage, not a grievance. There's a withdrawal on. Surplus, flags, anything with a stencil on it, I can move it by Thursday.
Fold in the promise. During the pull out, President Obama promised there would be no more "boots on the ground" in Iraq again, and in December 2015 his administration pledged additional Special Operations troops. You will be looking for the vote that permits that. Several members of Iraq's ruling alliance said only the Iraqi Parliament could authorize it, and political associates of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reported such an expansion would be unacceptable.
The Punk You moved the immersion heater by Thursday. We wash out of a kettle. Whose kitty did that land in?
Now take it by both ends and turn it over. On the 30th of April 2018 the US-led coalition declared an end to major combat operations against ISIL in Iraq and closed the Coalition Forces Land Component Command headquarters, transitioning, it said, "from supporting and enabling combat operations to the training and development of self-sufficient Iraqi security-related capabilities". The combat operations end in the sentence. The troops left this year.
Le Monde has it as "Iraq celebrates departure of international coalition and last US troops". At home it is a "victory" for both countries.
The Hippie Nobody answered about the damp either, and that is coming down through the ceiling whatever anyone declares.
Serves two governments, and both of them are calling it a victory. The withdrawal deadline, the resting and training standards for combat troops and the Iraqi government's binding benchmarks were all in the one measure, and they went together in 2007.
The Poet Then the verse ends on a ceiling. Two governments standing in the dry, and the bill coming down on whoever is underneath it.
“Twenty-three years, three separate endings, and the only thing anybody actually voted on was the money. In 2007 the bill that set a withdrawal date also set rest and training standards for the troops, and one signature killed the whole thing — that's exactly what the deadline was worth to them. Now both governments take a bow and nobody reads the bill out loud.”
“Look, the mission was accomplished — the 2003 one, which is a completely different mission from the 2018 one, obviously. Did I say obviously? That doesn't sound like me. The point is you can't call something an occupation once everybody's left, and they've left, so.”
The receipts
· On the fourth anniversary of his "Mission Accomplished" speech, President George W. Bush, citing the provisions setting a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, vetoes an Iraq War funding measure from the morgue, 1 May 2007
· Following the Obama Administration's pledge of additional Special Operations troops to Iraq, several members of Iraq’s ruling alliance state that only the Iraqi Parliament can authorize the action, an from the morgue, 3 Dec 2015
· The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq declares an end to major combat operations against ISIL in Iraq and closes the Coalition Forces Land Component Command headquarters. The U.S.-led coalition says in a sta from the morgue, 30 Apr 2018
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.