IRAQ: President Obama: ‘These two young Marines stood their ground’

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In his speech Friday outlining plans for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, President Obama also paid tribute to two Marines posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for thwarting a suicide bomber: Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter and Cpl. Jonathan Yale.

‘These young men enlisted in time of war, knowing they would face great danger. They came here, to Camp Lejeune, as they trained for their mission. And last April they were standing guard in Anbar.

‘In an age when suicide is a weapon, they were suddenly faced with an oncoming truck filled with explosives. These two young Marines stood their ground. These two Marines opened fire. And these two Marines stopped that truck.

‘When the thousands of pounds of explosives detonated, they had saved 50 Marines and Iraqi police who would have been in the truck’s path, but Cpl. Yale and Lance Cpl. Haerter lost their own lives.’

After his speech, Obama met with members of the Yale and Haerter families.

--Tony Perry, San Diego