WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today released the following statement in reaction to President Obama's announcement that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of this year:

"I applaud the president's announcement that our troops will be coming home in a few months. I do not think our military involvement was ever justified by a threat to our own security. I think it is very good to see an end to this conflict, which has cost us much in lives and resources."

Bingaman was one of 23 senators who, in October 2002, voted against an authorization to go to war in Iraq.