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So the u.s. military continues its draw down of combat forces. this week the final combat brigade drove from iraq across the border. they are to leave, get down to the 50,000 boots on the ground number by the end of the month to meet a deadline set by president obama ending combat operations. then it changes to operation new dawn and the 50,000 american soldiers will be there in an advise and assist type role. securing airspace and borders and doing counter terrorism operations. the general is leaving iraq after serving in a variety of roles there over the years, most recently as the top u.s. ...

Headed by the diplomats to help iraqis take the next steps. as general odierno winds down operations, there is a question precisely how long the u.s. will keep a troop presence in iraq. the current agreement between the countries says all u.s. troops will be out by the end of next year. today, odierno was asked about the possibility of an extension. >> they have not asked us. we will wait to see what happens. they are capable of providing the internal security and they are capable of foundational external capability. if they did ask us, bob, it would be something for technical support and not ...

Martha's vineyard. senior white house correspondent major garrett is reporting live from there. major, what do we know about the speech? >> good morning. welcome to a blustery martha's vineyard on sunday morning. president obama getting in a round of golf this morning, trying to beat the weather. we expect much of the heavy winds and rain, you are experiencing in new york as the president tried to work on the golf game before the deluge arrived. on the speech, we don't have precise date but we know this about his schedule. a week from today on august 29 he will be in new orleans to give speech...

The brigades that left this week will be gone from iraq and there will be a residual force of 50,000 support forces in iraq. the president will want to put it in context as a matter of policy and for those of us who cover the democratic primary campaign, it was candidate obama insistence on troop withdrawal strategy, viewed by liberals more progressive than hillary clinton to help give him toe-hold in the primary campaign. he wants to tell the country he built a strategy then as candidate and carried it through now as president. this is good news. one, of course, big problem that remains in ir...

>> well, only in a couple of ways and some are ironic and some are important. one of course is as u.s. forces begin to withdraw from iraq, some, only some, not all of those combat forces will then be repositioned to afghanistan. of course, the larger connection is david petraeus, the central figure in the third strategy in iraq. the successful surge strategy as a candidate barack obama opposed and now there's a third strategy president obama's in afghanistan being led by whom? general david petraeus, so you do have those two linkages in iraq and afghanistan. julie, back to you. >> julie: major...