BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq on Wednesday, a day after U.S. troops formally ended combat operations in the country.
Gates was expected to attend a ceremony in Baghdad at which the U.S. military's outgoing commander in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, was due to hand over to the incoming commander, Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin.
President Barack Obama is seeking to fulfill a 2008 election campaign pledge to end the war launched by his predecessor George W. Bush in 2003.
U.S. troop numbers in Iraq have fallen below 50,000 ahead of a full withdrawal next year.
The U.S. military is scaling back despite a political deadlock in Iraq that has prevented the formation of a new government six months after a March election, and continuing attacks by weakened yet resilient Sunni Islamist insurgents.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
