Troop withdrawal not discussed as Obama meets Maliki

Obama said in brief remarks that he had a “very constructive discussion” with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Television pictures showed the two men smiling and shaking hands before they sat down for talks after Obama flew in to get a first-hand assessment of security in the country, where violence has fallen to its lowest level since early 2004.

Obama did not mention his withdrawal plan to Maliki, Iraqi Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters.

“This issue, we do not discuss… Obama did not speak about anything which concerns the Iraqi Government because he does not have any official (Government) capacity,” Dabbagh said.

Maliki suggested earlier this month setting a timetable for US troops to leave Iraq, but has given no dates.

Obama has welcomed Maliki’s suggestion, but some Iraqis insist that the army and police cannot go it alone and that a premature withdrawal of US troops could open the door to the sort of violence that nearly tore Iraq apart not so long ago.

On Sunday the Iraqi Government denied that Maliki had told a German magazine in an interview that he backed Obama’s plan to withdraw combat troops within 16 months. The Government said Maliki’s remarks to Der Spiegel were translated incorrectly.

Dabbagh said Iraq had a vision of all foreign combat forces withdrawing by the end of 2010 but that this would depend on the security. There are more than 140,000 American troops in Iraq.

McCain has attacked Obama for not visiting Iraq recently to get a close look at conditions.

The Republican candidate has been to Iraq eight times while Obama’s only other trip was in January 2006, a month before militants blew up a revered Shi’ite shrine in Samarra in an attack that plunged Iraq into vicious sectarian fighting.

Obama, who is visiting Iraq as part of a US congressional delegation, also met the number two US military commander in Iraq and a British general. He is also expected to hold talks with General David Petraeus, the US commander in the country.

Obama has scheduled no news conferences in Iraq and his visit has been shrouded in secrecy for security reasons.

Television pictures showed him meeting US troops in the southern city of Basra, the hub for Iraq’s oil exports.

Obama, trying to boost his foreign policy credentials, will also travel to other countries in West Asia and visit major powers in Europe this week.

Speaking on NBC’s Today Show, McCain criticised Obama’s position on Iraq.

“I’m glad that Senator Obama is going to get a chance for the first time to sit down with General David Petraeus and understand what the surge was all about and why it succeeded and why we are winning the war,” McCain said. “I hope he will have a chance to admit that he badly misjudged the situation and he was wrong.”

US President George W Bush ordered 30,000 extra troops to Iraq in early 2007 to try to drag the country back from all-out war between majority Shi’ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

The last of those reinforcements depart this week, still leaving 140,000 US soldiers in the country, about the same number as when Bush ordered the so-called surge.

The sharp cut in violence in Iraq has led Baghdad to become increasingly assertive about its own security capabilities.

Indeed, Maliki and Bush agreed last week to set a “time horizon” for reducing American forces in Iraq. It was the closest the Bush administration has come to acknowledging the need for a timeframe for US troop cuts. Bush has long opposed deadlines for troop withdrawals.

In a speech last Tuesday, Obama said a “single-minded” focus on Iraq was distracting the United States from other threats.