Obama says Iraqi PM seeks US troop pullout by 2010
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
BAGHDAD, July 22 (AFP): US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed support for a pullout of US troops by 2010, after talks in Baghdad with the premier.
Obama who is on a two-day trip to Iraq also conceded he had not anticipated how well the US troop surge would work, in combination with local factors, the key political flashpoint on the war with his Republican rival John McCain.
"The prime minister said that now is an appropriate time to start to plan for the reorganisation of our troops in Iraq -- including their numbers and missions," Obama said in a statement released by his Senate office.
"He stated his hope that US combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010," he added, in a joint statment released with fellow senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel during their stopover in Iraq.
Obama, on an international tour to tout his commander-in-chief credentials, has vowed to pull most combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months if elected -- a timeline only slightly shorter than Maliki's preferred date.
McCain has slammed the idea of what he calls artificial timetables for a US withdrawal, and says a longer term presence is vital to preserving recent security gains.
Obama met Maliki and President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad after arriving Monday.
Maliki briefed Obama on recent progress in achieving security and stability, an Iraqi government statement said.
"Iraq has succeeded in overcoming many difficulties and security challenges. It has achieved victory over al-Qaeda and militias and now aims to achieve economic success," Maliki told Obama according to the statement.
"I congratulate you on the achievements of your government ... I am supportive and committed to preserving the gains the Iraqi government achieved under your leadership," the statement in Arabic quoted Obama as saying.
Hours after their meeting, an explosives-filled tractor blew up in central Diyala province, killing seven members of a local anti-Qaeda group and wounding eight others, police said.
The Illinois senator earlier Monday was in the southern capital of Basra where he met Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the number two US commander in Iraq, US officials said.
As his visit sparked fresh debate in the US presidential race, Obama did appear to concede some ground on the surge, which he opposed and of which McCain was a vocal champion.
Obama told ABC News he "did not anticipate, and I think that this is a fair characterisation, the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided that they had had enough with Al-Qaeda, in the Shii'a community the militias standing down to some degrees.
"So what you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops.
Maliki and US President George W. Bush have agreed to include a "time-horizon" for the withdrawal of US forces in a security pact still being negotiated.
Obama who is on a two-day trip to Iraq also conceded he had not anticipated how well the US troop surge would work, in combination with local factors, the key political flashpoint on the war with his Republican rival John McCain.
"The prime minister said that now is an appropriate time to start to plan for the reorganisation of our troops in Iraq -- including their numbers and missions," Obama said in a statement released by his Senate office.
"He stated his hope that US combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010," he added, in a joint statment released with fellow senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel during their stopover in Iraq.
Obama, on an international tour to tout his commander-in-chief credentials, has vowed to pull most combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months if elected -- a timeline only slightly shorter than Maliki's preferred date.
McCain has slammed the idea of what he calls artificial timetables for a US withdrawal, and says a longer term presence is vital to preserving recent security gains.
Obama met Maliki and President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad after arriving Monday.
Maliki briefed Obama on recent progress in achieving security and stability, an Iraqi government statement said.
"Iraq has succeeded in overcoming many difficulties and security challenges. It has achieved victory over al-Qaeda and militias and now aims to achieve economic success," Maliki told Obama according to the statement.
"I congratulate you on the achievements of your government ... I am supportive and committed to preserving the gains the Iraqi government achieved under your leadership," the statement in Arabic quoted Obama as saying.
Hours after their meeting, an explosives-filled tractor blew up in central Diyala province, killing seven members of a local anti-Qaeda group and wounding eight others, police said.
The Illinois senator earlier Monday was in the southern capital of Basra where he met Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the number two US commander in Iraq, US officials said.
As his visit sparked fresh debate in the US presidential race, Obama did appear to concede some ground on the surge, which he opposed and of which McCain was a vocal champion.
Obama told ABC News he "did not anticipate, and I think that this is a fair characterisation, the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided that they had had enough with Al-Qaeda, in the Shii'a community the militias standing down to some degrees.
"So what you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops.
Maliki and US President George W. Bush have agreed to include a "time-horizon" for the withdrawal of US forces in a security pact still being negotiated.