President Obama Will Host Formal White House Dinner To Mark The End Of The Iraq War

A tribute to heroes: "A Nation's Gratitude"
UPDATE: CLICK HERE for the guest list and more details
Two and a half months after the last US troops withdrew from Iraq, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a formal dinner at the White House to pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the veterans and their families, the White House announced today. The Feb. 29 event in the East Room has been designed to replicate a State Dinner, with the theme "A Nation's Gratitude: Honoring Those Who Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn," according to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Doug Wilson. The President and Mrs. Obama will welcome about 200 specially selected guests, and the event will include performances by high-profile entertainers. (Above: The President and Mrs. Obama greeted troops during a December 14 visit to Fort Bragg, NC to mark the end of the Iraq war)

"The template is a State Dinner, the highest honor that a President can give a visiting Head of State, because everyone involved felt this was appropriate to give thanks and to honor America's men and women in uniform," Wilson said.

Senior military leaders will be invited, but most of the invitations "will go to enlisted NCOs and the common fighting man and woman," said Wilson, who represent the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy and the National Guard, and come from all 50 states and the territories. They will include military family members and/or caregivers, members of Gold Star families, and wounded warriors.

"Mrs. Obama wanted to make sure that the room that night represented the America that served in Iraq," Wilson said.

About 1.5 million Americans served in Iraq during the war that lasted from March of 2003 to December of 2011; close to 4,500 were killed, and more than 32,000 wounded. A committee made up of senior enlisted representatives from each branch of service hand-picked the President and Mrs. Obama's guests.

The White House will send out formal invitations to the dinner in the next 7-10 days, Wilson said. Attire will be black tie and dress uniforms, and whether or not there will be a formal arrival ceremony and a red-carpet style entrance has yet to be determined. The names of the entertainers have not yet been announced.

The President and Mrs. Obama annually host a closed-press dinner for top military brass, the Combatant Commanders Dinner, but a dinner to mark the end of a war seems to be a White House first, according to Wilson, who said he was not aware of a similar formal event hosted by a President. America's returning heroes from Iraq have not yet received a ticker-tape style parade in New York, because some troops who served are now re-deployed in Afghanistan, Wilson said. Veterans' groups have been lobbying for such a parade. The city of St. Louis held its own ticker-tape parade in tribute to local Iraq heroes, Wilson said.

"This dinner--an expression of the nation's gratitude for the achievements and enormous sacrifices of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq War and of the families who supported them--will include men and women in uniform from all ranks, services, states and backgrounds, representative of the many thousands of Americans who served in Iraq," read the formal White House announcement.

The White House has been "working with military and civilian leaders from the Department of Defense on this tribute," according to the announcement. Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden's Joining Forces Campaign to honor and support military families marks its one-year anniversary in April.

When queried about the dinner during today's press briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney said comparing the dinner to a State Dinner is incorrect.

"I think state dinner probably is not quite accurate," Carney said, and added that he did not know many details. "I don't have any dress or menu or entertainment," he said.

The West Wing released the formal announcement about the dinner, and the East Wing, which traditionally handles all aspects of social occasions, referred queries about the event to the West Wing and to the Department of Defense.

The President and Mrs. Obama will host the first State Dinner of 2012 in mid-March. British Prime Minister David Cameron will be honored.

*"There was a sea of maroon berets as the President and First Lady greeted troops following remarks on the end of America’s war in Iraq, at Fort Bragg, N.C.," White House photographer Pete Souza wrote with the photo at the top of this post.