“Iraqis want an aspirational timeline, with a clear date, for the redeployment...

From Times Online
July 22, 2008
Barack Obama commits himself to withdrawing troops in two-day tour of Iraq

Deborah Haynes, Baghdad

Barack Obama’s final few hours in Iraq began this morning with breakfast at a former palace of Saddam Hussein, which currently functions as the US Embassy in Baghdad.

Looking relaxed in an open-collar shirt, he ate with fellow senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel, as well as a small group of constituents from their home states, before heading to a small airport in the Green Zone to fly west to the city of Ramadi, a former al-Qaeda stronghold.

The trip, to meet tribal leaders who have turned against the Sunni Islamist group, was the last stop on a two-day tour of Iraq, which appears to have left Mr Obama in no doubt that the Iraqi Government is looking for a timeline from the United States to withdraw combat troops — something that he has also been advocating.

“Iraqis want an aspirational timeline, with a clear date, for the redeployment of American combat forces,” said a joint statement from the three senators.

It quoted Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who met Mr Obama yesterday, as saying that Baghdad does not want an open-ended presence of such troops.

“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. He stated his hope that US combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010,” according to the statement that was released last night.

More @ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4378385.ece