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BAGHDAD: US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has expressed his support for a pullout of US troops from Iraq by 2010, after meeting with the premier here Monday.
"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 in Washington.
"He stated his hope that US combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010," he added in a joint statement released with fellow senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel, during their stopover in Iraq.
Obama met Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad after arriving on a two-day trip as part of a Congressional delegation.
His visit comes days after he confirmed he would withdraw most of the American troops in Iraq if he is elected president in November.
Maliki briefed Obama on recent progress in achieving security and stability, an Iraqi government statement said about the meeting.
"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 issued by the premier's office.
"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.
"We are confident that the power and prestige of the Iraqi government will enable it to succeed in passing legislation that will serve the Iraqi people in economic fields," it also quoted him 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.
This is Obama's second trip to Iraq after a similar tour in January 2006.
The Illinois senator arrived in Basra and met Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the number two US commander in Iraq, US officials said.
He stayed overnight in Kuwait after visiting Kabul, where he pledged to reduce the US presence in Iraq and commit at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan.
Obama's camp has said the aim of his tour is to assess security requirements and meet Iraq's leaders, whom he has criticised for not doing enough to rebuild.
"Iraq's leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the (US troop) surge," Obama wrote on July 14 in The New York Times.
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.
On Monday, the White House again insisted the pact would not include a specific date for a pull-out.
"What it will not do is have any sort date tied to combat troops, like how many American troops would be in Iraq at X date. That would not be included," spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
The pact was expected to include an "aspirational date" for Iraqis to control security in all 18 provinces.
Perino later said the pact would be delayed beyond July 31, its target date.
"I don't think that we'll be able to finalise this agreement by next Thursday," she said.
"We are working towards it but it might take a few more days after that."
Obama's senate office statement indicated the Iraqis "want an aspirational timeline, with a clear date, for the redeployment" of US forces, adding that while they were appreciative of their sacrifice "they do not want an open-ended presence of US combat forces."
"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," the statement added.
Obama, who opposed the Iraq war and the 2007 "surge" of US troops, is visiting at a time when violence is at a four-year low - partly because of the controversial troop surge.
Obama's senate office statement acknowledged the "extraordinary efforts" of US forces in the ebbing violence, but also adduced Iraqi factors including "more effective Iraqi security forces, the decision by the Sunni Awakening to fight 'Al Qaeda in Iraq' and the cease-fire by Shiite militia."
"An overwhelming majority of Iraqis reject what remains of 'Al Qaeda in Iraq' and violent militias," the statement said.
On Monday, Republican presidential rival John McCain said the Baghdad visit would show Obama he was wrong to oppose the troop surge, and that he hoped his White House rival would "admit that he badly misjudged the situation."
Obama, in an interview with US television late Monday, touted the "convergence" of the Bush administration and McCain around his foreign policy goals, including a timeline for US troop withdrawal in Iraq, beefing up troop presence in Afghanistan and talking with US foe Iran.
"So there is a convergence around a set of principles in terms of pursuing our foreign policy, that corresponds to a lot of the things I have been suggesting," the 46-year-old senator said on ABC "Nightline."
Obama also met US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker on Monday, and on Tuesday he is set to meet more Iraqi leaders and US troops. He is also due in Jordan and Israel before going to Germany, France and Britain.
- AFP/yb
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