Gibbs: Combat troop pullout should be permanent

WASHINGTON (AP) - Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs says he cannot foresee a circumstance in which the United States would have to send combat troops back to Iraq.

Interviewed on the day of the troop withdrawal, Gibbs said President Barack Obama has been assured by military leaders that such a return scenario is not likely.

Gibbs declined to say whether Obama was wrong in opposing the troop surge that former President George W. Bush ordered. The spokesman said that while adding 30,000 troops improved security, a stronger factor was the move toward political accommodation among the Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions.

Gibbs appeared on NBC's "Today" show, CBS's "The Early Show," ABC's "Good Morning America," and on CNN, Fox News Channel, National Public Radio and MSNBC.