For Second Straight Day, Hussein Denies Surge Was Successful - Credits Iraqis, Not U.S. Troops
“My judgement on Iraq matches reality”
Related Story: Obama Covers His Ass At Expense Of Living, Wounded And Dead American Troops
AMMAN, Jordan–Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama completed a visit to Iraq on Tuesday acknowledging progress in the country over the past year but unwilling to declare that the Bush Administration troop surge he opposed has been a success.
“I believe that the situation in Iraq is more secure than it was a year and a half ago. I think that the definition of success depends on how you look at it,” Obama said at a news conference in Jordan shortly after he landed here for the next stop on an international tour that also will take him to capitals in the Middle East and Europe.
After the news conference Obama met with Jordan’s King Abdullah and then had dinner with the king and other Jordanian and American officials. Later in the evening, he was scheduled to go on to Israel, where he meets with government leaders Wednesday.
The international trip, which began with visits to combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, is an opportunity for the candidate to assure American voters of his capabilities as a potential commander in chief. Though polls show Obama ahead in the presidential race at the moment, many voters say they have reservations about his readiness to lead the country on national security issues, a key potential vulnerability.
At the news conference, held at the site of an ancient ruin that provided a striking panoramic view of the Jordanian capital, many of questions focused on his policy judgments on the Iraq War.
Obama stressed that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and even the Bush administration have in recent days moved closer to his signature policy on Iraq calling for a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops within 16 months after Obama would take office. Maliki said on Monday he favored a goal of removing U.S. combat troops by 2010, within a few months of the date Obama has proposed.
“When you look at an increasing recognition that we can’t stay in Iraq in perpetuity and that a time frame, timetable, timeline, whatever you want to refer to, is appropriate, I think that the judgments that I’ve made over the course of the last two years are ones that match up with the reality on the ground,” Obama said.
But he demurred when asked if Republican rival John McCain should be credited with good judgment for supporting the Bush administration’s troop “surge” last year that was followed by a dramatic drop in sectarian strife in Iraq.
“I will leave it to the voters to make that decision. And my hope is to avoid a colloquy with the McCain campaign over the next four or five days, partly because I think when we’re overseas, we’re trying to … focus on some areas of agreement.”
Obama, who has argued the success of the Bush administration strategy in Iraq should be judged on long-term political reconciliation, conceded signs of progress in that direction. He cited the Maliki government’s offensives in Basr and Sadr City against militias from his own Shiite sect. He called those offensives “a confidence-building measure.” Some Shiite militia groups have targeted Sunnis in sectarian killings.
But he said the pace of progress has been inadequate.
“So far, I think we have not seen the kind of political reconciliation that’s going to bring about long-term stability in Iraq,” Obama said.
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