RICHARD A OPPEL JR JEFF ZELENY
The Iraqi government on Monday left little doubt that it favours a withdrawal plan for US combat troops similar to what Senator Barack Obama has proposed, providing Mr Obama with a potentially powerful political boost on a day he spent in Iraq working to fortify his credibility as a wartime leader. After a day spent meeting Iraqi leaders and US military commanders, Mr Obama seemed to have navigated one of the riskiest portions of a week-long international trip without a noticeable hitch and to have gained a new opportunity to blunt attacks on his national security credentials by his Republican rival in the presidential race, Senator John McCain.
Whether by chance or by design, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq's government chose a day when Mr Obama was in the country to provide its clearest statement yet about its views on the withdrawal of US troops. After a weekend of dispute about precisely what Mr al-Maliki was suggesting, his spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters in Baghdad, ''We cannot give any timetables or dates but the Iraqi government believes the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal.''
Mr Obama has said he would seek to withdraw US combat forces over 16 months if he is elected president, starting upon taking office in January, meaning his plan would be completed on roughly the same timetable as suggested by the Iraqis. The Bush administration has signalled a willingness to work with the Iraqis on their desire to begin setting a least a general ''time horizon'' for reducing the US military presence, leaving Mr McCain at risk of becoming isolated in his position of firm opposition to a withdrawal timetable.
The central tenet of Mr Obama's foreign policy suddenly is aligned with what the Iraqis themselves increasingly seem to want. Not only have the developments offered Mr Obama a measure of credibility as a prospective world leader in a week when his every move is receiving intensive attention at home and abroad, but it has complicated Mr McCain's leading argument against him: that a withdrawal timeline would be tantamount to surrender and would leave Iraqis in dangerous straits.
Mr McCain is hardly conceding the point. He continued to hammer away at Mr Obama's judgement on national security, saying on Monday that Mr Obama had gotten it badly wrong when he opposed sending additional US troops last year to help stabilise Iraq. Republicans said Iraq would never have reached the point where it could reasonably call for a reduction in US presence without the troop increase, a policy championed by Mr McCain over the objections of Mr Obama and most Democrats.
''The fact is, if we had done what Sen Obama wanted to do we would have lost,'' Mr McCain told reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine. ''And we would have faced a wider war. And we would have had greater problems in Afghanistan and the entire region. And Iran would have increased their influence.''
US military commanders have also expressed qualms about setting a specific timetable for withdrawal, suggesting that to do so could risk reversing the progress made in Iraq since the US increased its troop presence last year. On Sunday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Michael Mullen, told Fox News that the consequences of setting a two-year timeline for removing US combat troops ''could be very dangerous''.
For a day, at least, the images of the two presidential candidates offered a sharp contrast. In an interview on ABC News' Good Morning America, Mr McCain talked about securing the ''Iraq-Pakistan border,'' a momentary misstatement of geography. (US forces are pursuing terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; Iraq does not border Pakistan.) His aides staged an event where he was seen riding in a golf cart in Maine with the first President Bush, while Mr Obama flew over Iraq in a helicopter with Gen David H Petraeus, the top US military commander.
During his visit, Mr Obama said it was important that the Iraqi government take charge of its own affairs. NYT
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