Iraq War: 10 years later - New York News | NYC Breaking News

Good Day NY co-host Greg Kelly is credited with being the first TV journalist inside Baghdad during the US-led ground invasion of Iraq 10 years ago this week.

Greg recounted the event and the minor injury he sustained while embedded with troops.

"This was a wild time I never thought we would see what we got to see. There was no way we were going to face real danger, and sure enough it was everything you imagine a war or an invasion to be. We had 15 reporters we started with, by the time we got to Baghdad we had lost four," said Greg.

The military action quickly toppled Saddam Hussein but led to years of bloodshed as Sunni and Shiite militants battled U.S. forces and each other, the AP reported.

In the meantime, President Barack Obama, who opposed the invasion of Iraq when he was a state lawmaker in Illinois, released a statement on Tuesday about the decade since the war began.

"Michelle and I join our fellow Americans in paying tribute to all who served and sacrificed in one of our nation's longest wars," the president said in the statement. "We salute the courage and resolve of more than 1.5 million service members and civilians who during multiple tours wrote one of the most extraordinary chapters in military service. We honor the memory of the nearly 4,500 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice to give the Iraqi people an opportunity to forge their own future after many years of hardship. And we express our gratitude to our extraordinary military families who sacrificed on the home front, especially our Gold Star families who remain in our prayers."

Click here to read the president's full statement.