U.S. President Barack Obama is visiting a military base in North Carolina Wednesday to thank the troops who have served in Iraq, as the U.S. military presence there winds down.

Mr. Obama, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, is expected to discuss the sacrifices Americans have made, while marking the continuing relationship between the United States and Iraq.

White House spokesman Jay Carney described the withdrawal of U.S. forces by December 31 as a “significant moment,” and said the president's visit to Fort Bragg is a chance to remember how big of an issue the war has been at home.

Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the conflict, which began in March 2003.

In Iraq Wednesday, hundreds of people in the city of Fallujah took to the streets to celebrate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from their country. They shouted slogans and held banners, and some burned U.S. and Israeli flags. Fallujah, to the west of Baghdad, was once a center of insurgency against U.S. forces.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who met with Mr. Obama Monday at the White House, has extended an open invitation to U.S. companies to help rebuild his country. On Tuesday, he told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that it was not the “generals” who were playing a leading role in Baghdad's future, but instead corporations and business leaders.

The White House says it believes Iraq is ready to handle its own security, and that while there will be violence, it has been diminishing as key figures resolve differences democratically.

On Monday, Mr. Maliki and Mr. Obama outlined a broad agenda for post-war cooperation, pledging to ensure Iraq's political stability and strengthen its national security.