Camp Victory Baghdad, Iraq VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Ladies and gentlemen, the last several years, every time I have been in this old palace, am here, I can’t but help think of the irony that we are here today occupying a palace for a noble reason that was once occupied by Saddam Hussein. Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, General Mattis, General Odierno, General Austin, Ambassador Jeffrey, our distinguished and honored Iraqi leaders and military, it’s an honor to be with you today. It’s an honor to be joined by such a distinguished group of Americans and Iraqi commanders and civilian leaders bound together, I might add — as a nation, we are now bound together as well by years of shared struggle and significant sacrifice. In the predawn hours of March 20, 2003, columns of coalition troops set off across the desert and marshlands from Kuwait en route to Baghdad. Last week — after seven-and-a-half years that tested our mettle like no conflict in recent American history — the last of our combat units followed that same dusty highway out of Iraq, on their way home