CAMP VICTORY (Iraq): US Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that American forces had begun a new mission in Iraq, a day after the US combat role in the war-torn country officially came to an end.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over but American engagement with Iraq will continue with the mission that began today, Operation New Dawn,” Biden told US troops at Camp Victory, outside of Baghdad.

He said Iraqis had rejected violence, and called upon their leaders to form a new government, nearly six month after an indecisive general election.

Referring to Al Qaeda, which has spearheaded a bloody insurgency in Iraqi, Biden said “the Iraqi people have rejected their ugly face of violence.”

“I truly believe that the darkest days are now behind us,” he said, pointing to Iraqis’ “deeply felt desire to control their own lives and maintain their own security.”

Biden stated on a light note that “politics has broken out in Iraq” and called on them to “place the national interest above their own.”

“I strongly urge them to match the courage their citizens have shown by bringing this process to a close and forming a government.”

Speaking at a ceremony during which Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin formally replaced General Ray Odierno new commander of US forces in Iraq, Biden also touched on the politician divisions caused in the United States by former president George W.Bush’s decision to go to war.

“It is no secret that this war has divided Americans but they have never shrunk from the united support of the united states military,” he said.

“Now is the time to put these differences behind us.”

While the “remaining troops are combat ready if needs be,” Biden said their role would be to advise and assist Iraqi forces, support them in counter-terrorism operations and to protect US military and civilian personnel.

In that vein, he said “we are ramping up our civilian and diplomatic effort to strenghthen Iraqi sovereignty, stability and self-reliance,” adding that “our goal is not just a physically secure Iraq but an economically prosperous and stable one as well.”

Agence France-Presse