Iraq War: A Look Back (SLIDESHOW)

President Obama today announced his plan to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by August 2010 and declared that the US has "begun the work of ending this war," reports the New York Times.

Nearly six years after American troops crossed the border into Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, Mr. Obama said "renewed cause for hope" produced by improved security would allow Americans to begin disentangling militarily and turn the country over to the Iraqis themselves.

"Let me say this as plainly as I can," the president told thousands of Marines stationed here. "By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."

To mark the beginning of the end, the Huffington Post has compiled a slideshow of the most significant moments from the war. It has been a long war. It is a long slideshow. And now, six years since the U.S. invasion, the end is in sight.