Obama Statement: We Will Defeat Al Qaeda

President Barack Obama spoke from the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday, formally ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq after seven long years of war, declaring firmly Tuesday night: “It is time to turn the page.”

President Barack Obama says his central responsibility as president is to restore the nation’s fragile economy and to help put the millions of people who lost jobs back to work. Obama devoted part of his prime-time speech on Iraq to the economy.

Watch the video:

As combat in Iraq ends, President Barack Obama is escalating the conflict in Afghanistan. In his primetime address Tuesday, he said the U.S. is now able to apply the resources necessary to that mission.