(CNN) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates helped usher in the next chapter for the United States in Iraq on Wednesday, presiding over a ceremony launching a new military operation designed to train, assist and advise the Iraqis.
The ceremony, held at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, marked the conclusion of the U.S. combat mission dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom and the transfer to the assistance mission, named Operation New Dawn.
Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III replaced Gen. Raymond T. Odierno as commander of U.S. Forces-Iraq in the changeover, held at one of the many palaces of late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein -- whose regime was ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Biden said Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, but promised that "American engagement with Iraq will continue" with the new stability mission.
"This change of mission, to state the obvious, would never have been possible without the resolve and tremendous sacrifice and competence of our military -- the finest, if our Iraqi friends will forgive us, the finest fighting force in the world, and I would argue the finest fighting force that ever has existed," Biden said.
CNN
