Face to face with Iraq's leaders,
Barack Obama gained fresh support Monday for the idea of
pulling all U.S. combat forces from the war zone by 2010.
But the Iraqis stopped short of actual timetables or endorsement of
Obama's pledge to withdraw troops within 16 months
if he wins the presidency.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Democratic presidential contender also got a military briefing
— and a helicopter tour — from the top U.S. commander in the region,
Gen. David Petraeus, and also met with a few of the nearly 150,000 U.S.
troops now well into the war's sixth year.
Back in the U.S., Republican rival John McCain said he hoped the visit
would open Obama's eyes to the danger of withdrawal timetables.
Said the Arizona senator, who was meeting with President Bush's father,
the former president, in Maine: "When you win wars, troops come home."
He said of Obama: "He's been completely wrong on the issue."
In Washington, the White House expressed displeasure with recent public
comments by Iraqi leaders on the withdrawal question and suggested they
might have the U.S. election on their minds.
As Obama visited Iraq for the first time in more than two years,
comments Monday by the government's spokesman roughly mirrored the
Illinois senator's withdrawal schedule and offered a glimpse of Iraq's
growing confidence as violence drops and Iraqi security forces expand
their roles.
"We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq,"
spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said after Obama met with Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki — who has struggled for days to clarify Iraq's position on a
possible timetable for a U.S. troop pullout.
Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, said after meeting Obama
that Iraqi leaders share "a common interest
... to schedule the withdrawal of American troops."
"I'd be happy if we reach an agreement to say, for instance,
the 31st of December 2010" would mark the departure of the last
U.S.combat unit, he said — then noted that any such goal could be revised
depending on threats and the pace of training for Iraqi security forces.
That date would be some seven months later than Obama's 16-month timeline.
Obama said almost nothing to reporters following him, but promised fuller
impressions after he finishes here Tuesday and heads to Jordan and Israel.
He released a statement late Monday noting that Iraqis want
an "aspirational timeline, with a clear date," for the departure of
U.S. combat forces.
"Prime Minister Maliki told us that while the Iraqi people deeply
appreciate the sacrifices of American soldiers, they do not want an
open-ended presence of U.S. combat forces. The prime minister said that
now is an appropriate time to start to plan for the reorganization of our
troops in Iraq — including their numbers and missions. He stated his hope
that U.S. combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010," Obama said in a
joint statement with Sens. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska,
and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, who accompanied him to the
war zone.
The senators also acknowledged a significant decline in violence in Iraq,
and said that while their has been some "forward movement" on political
progress, reconciliation and economic development, there has not
been "nearly enough to bring lasting stability to Iraq."
Obama told ABC News that military leaders have "deep concerns" about a
timetable that doesn't account for changing conditions.
"I don't think that there are deep concerns about the notion of a pullout
per se," he said in the interview. "There are deep concerns about, from
their perspective, of a timetable that doesn't take into account what
they anticipate might be some sort of change in conditions."
Obama also said that knowing what he knows now he still would have
opposed sending more troops to Iraq last year.
In Washington, the White House expressed unhappiness about Iraqi leaders'
apparent public backing for Obama's troop withdrawal plans and suggested
they may be trying to use the U.S. presidential election as leverage for
negotiations on America's presence and future obligations in the country.
"We don't think that talking about specific negotiating tactics or your
negotiating position in the press is the best way to negotiate a deal,"
White House press secretary Dana Perino said after al-Maliki was quoted
in a magazine article supporting Obama's proposed 16-month troop
withdrawal timeline. Al-Maliki's spokesman, al-Dabbagh, initially
appeared to try to discredit the magazine report but on Monday newly
expressed hopes that U.S. combat forces could be out of Iraq by 2010.
The Bush administration has refused to set specific troop level targets
but last week offered to discuss a "general time horizon" for a U.S.
combat troop exit.
Asked whether the Iraqis might be trying to use the U.S. presidential
election for leverage in negotiations over the future of the American
military mission in Iraq, Perino said, "I think that a lot of other
people look through the lens of a 2008 presidential election. ... Might
they be? Sure. I mean, it's possible."
Iraq was the third leg of Obama's tour of the region, which has included
stops in Kuwait and Afghanistan.
The counterpoint was clear: Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start and
views the battle against the resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida in
Afghanistan as America's most critical fight.
But Iraq is not the same place as when Obama last visited
in January 2006.
Both Sunni insurgents, including al-Qaida in Iraq, and Shiite militias
have suffered significant blows. And security forces in Baghdad — once
the scene of near daily car bombs and sectarian killings — have made
clear gains since last year's troop build-up of nearly 30,000 soldiers.
In an interview Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America," McCain said he
hoped Obama would now "have the opportunity to see the success of the
surge."
"This is the same strategy that he voted against, railed against,"
McCain said.
"He was wrong about the surge. It is succeeding and we are winning."
All five surge brigades have left Iraq, but there are still about
147,000 U.S. soldiers in the country.
Obama — traveling in a congressional delegation with Reed and Hagel_
first arrived in the city of Basra in Iraq's mostly Shiite south. Basra
is the center for about 4,000 British troops involved mostly in training
Iraqi forces. An Iraqi-led offensive begun in March reclaimed control of
most of the city from Shiite militia believed linked to Iran.
Obama's foreign stops, which will conclude with a swing through Europe,
were seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials and
address challenges by McCain that he is too inexperienced to lead in a
time of war and global risks.
They also gave Obama a taste of some of the difficulties in Iraq that the
next president will inherit. Important negotiations on a pact defining
the future U.S. military commitment have stalled.
出所：AP White House Correspondent Terence Hunt in Washington contributed to this report
内閣支持率回復のための内閣改造とかつまらないことを考えている
残念な政治家たちしかいない国もいれば
アメリカのように、候補の段階でグローバルな局面を考えている政治家が
いる国もある。
だから日本は軽んじられるんです。
・・・すべてはクライアントのために・・・
近藤誠一税理士事務所
http://www.kondokaikei.jdlibex.jp
つづく。
