Vice President Joe Biden and top US military officials marked the nominal end of US combat operations in Iraq with a formal change-of-command ceremony in Baghdad. In what’s been described as a made-for-television event, Biden said the US is on track to withdraw all its troops by the end of next year.

Vice President Joe Biden: “The United States has now ended our combat mission in Iraq, and Iraqi troops are taking lead responsibility for their country’s security. We’ve kept a promise, a promise made to the American people and to the people of Iraq, by drawing down our forces to roughly 50,000. And we’re on track to remove all of our troops by end of next year according to the agreement signed by President Bush made with the Iraqi government.”

Tens of thousands of US troops, special operations forces and private contractors remain in Iraq. According to the New York Times, the commander of one of the remaining US brigades, Colonel Malcolm Frost, recently wrote to his soldiers’ families: “We will move around Iraq fully protected in armored Strykers and other armored vehicles, wearing full body armor, and fully loaded with ammunition to deal with the enemy if/when they raise their head in anger against us.”