U.S. Soldier in Iraq (Photo Courtesy U.S. Army)

In his speech, he declared the effective end of Operation Iraqi Freedom and discussed the shift of focus to the war in Afghanistan.

He justified this decision by claiming that the U.S. has done all it can in Iraq, and it is now up to the Iraqi people to rebuild their country democratically.

“...In the end, only Iraqis can resolve their differences and police their streets,” he said. “Only Iraqis can build a democracy within their borders.  What America can do, and will do, is provide support for the Iraqi people as both a friend and a partner.”

American troops will still remain in Iraq, but their primary focus will be to assist the rebuilding and training of Iraq’s own security forces.

Obama stated that his administration had the same basic plan for Afghanistan, and that once the country had reached the level of autonomy that Iraq has allegedly reached now, U.S. troops will withdraw from there as well. He stated, as he has before, that this will be achieved by next summer.

As is par for the course any time Obama opens his mouth these days, his speech immediately received backlash from both the right and the left.

However, the New York Times published a blog Wednesday that arguably gave the most important players a voice: the Iraqi people.

The article, titled “Iraqis’ Reaction to President Obama’s Speech,” features the opinions of average Iraqis on Obama’s speech and how they really feel about U.S.’ involvement in Iraq.

They aren’t favorable, to say the least. Leaving aside the few that think Obama is a good president, most Iraqis whose stories were told in this piece are against Obama and the United States’ involvement in their country.

Most of them believe that anything Obama would say is a lie, and that the U.S. is never going to leave their country. They realize that their country is still in shambles no matter how hopeful Obama seems to be about their situation, and they haven’t seen the U.S. as being any kind of help.

Here are some of the most powerful excerpts from the article:

Yousif Muhammed, 34
Unemployed
“I liked it when he blamed Bush for the mistakes in Iraq, and I tell Obama if that was Bush’s fault than is it not a mistake leaving Iraq with these crises? I think if Bush made a mistake, this will be a bigger one.”

Ayad Muhammed, 52
Unemployed
“I did not hear the speech because I do not think that the U.S. will ever leave us alone.”

Ali Salam, 28
Unemployed
“I do not want to listen to Obama’s lies. I am suffering because of the U.S. withdrawal. I need the U.S. troops to stay to help us, now we are in the middle of the road and we need more time before they withdraw their troops. I was working with the U.S. Army and now because of the withdrawal I have no job, thanks to Obama.”

Muqdad al-Asadi, 30
“I did not hear Obama’s speech, and even if he gave a speech it doesn’t deserve my listening to it.”

It seems Obama’s speech was too optimistic.

It is obvious that there are still some major issues in Iraq that aren’t going to be solved any time soon. It’s obvious that our involvement in the Iraq war has not improved the average Iraqi perception of Americans. In fact, it may have made it worse.

To say that Iraq is going to be fine once we leave -- and maybe even democratic -- is a bold statement to make.

Iraq is still in chaos, and we are ending our mission not because of their needs or because we have effectively built a stable nation, but because our own domestic needs are more important right now.

Obama did not support this war from the beginning, and he believes that we should have never become involved. But it is troublesome to think how Iraq may become once we leave. If it was a hotbed of anti-American sentiment and chaos before, is it any better now? Or is it even worse?

Instead of complaining about how Obama didn’t praise George W. Bush enough (I’m talking to you, Sean Hannity and John McCain) more thought should be given in our media to the actual problems faced in Iraq and how we as a nation may be able to help tackle these problems in the years ahead.

Even if we withdraw from Iraq, these problems are not going to disappear anytime soon.

Reach staff reporter Stephanie McNeal here.

Follow her on Twitter @stephemcneal.