McConnell credits Bush with ending Iraq combat operations

Jack Brammer | Lexington Herald-Leader

President Barack Obama's formal announcement of the end of American combat troops in Iraq is "welcome news," U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell told several hundred Tuesday at a Commerce Lexington luncheon.

But McConnell, the Senate's Republican leader, credited former President George W. Bush "for having the determination and will" to make the end of U.S. troops in Iraq possible through a military surge.

McConnell noted that the surge late in the Bush administration was not popular at the time and was criticized at the time by Obama.

McConnell agreed with remarks by Obama that "much hard work remains in Iraq."

Read more of this story at the Bluegrass Politics blog.

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