Obama meets Iraqi Prime Minister, US commander to discuss security
Washington, 21 July (IranVNC)—Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was in Iraq today, where he met with that country’s Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and will meet later with the top US commander, General David Petraeus, to discuss the security situation in Iraq, where violence is at a four-year low.
By: IranVNC
Published: Monday, July 21, 2008
12:42GMT—8:42AM/EST
OBAMA – IRAQ – MCCAIN – AFGHANISTAN
Washington, 21 July (IranVNC)—Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was in Iraq today, where he met with that country’s Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and will meet later with the top US commander, General David Petraeus, to discuss the security situation in Iraq, where violence is at a four-year low.
Obama, whose trip is seen by some as an attempt to build his foreign policy credentials, has called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq within 16 months. There are currently more than 140,000 soldiers stationed in Iraq.
Obama’s likely contender in the November election, Senator John McCain, told NBC TV news today that he hopes Obama’s visit and meeting with Petraeus will show him why the “surge” of troops sent to Iraq last year has brought violence to current lows.
“I hope he will have a chance to admit that he badly misjudged the situation and he was wrong when he said that the surge wouldn’t work. It has succeeded and we’re winning the war,” McCain was quoted by AFP as saying.
Obama had travelled to Afghanistan yesterday, where he said the situation there should become the center of the US war on terrorism. He called for a re-deployment of forces from Iraq to Afghanistan, describing the situation there as “precarious and urgent”.
McCain criticized this position as well, in the same television interview. “You can’t choose to lose a war in Iraq, in my view, in order to win in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that more troops can be sent to Afghanistan as further progress is made in Iraq.
Last Friday, the White House announced that President George W. Bush and Prime Minister al-Maliki had agreed on setting a “time horizon” for reducing the number of US forces in Iraq. But the U.S. said the “time horizon” would be based on improving conditions on the ground.
Sources: Reuters, Agence France-Presse
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.