Obama on Iraq fact-finding mission

BAGHDAD  - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was in Iraq on Monday for talks with local leaders and US commanders, after pledging to pull out US troops in 16 months if he takes over the White House next year.
He will meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and senior US military commanders, Iraqi and US officials said.
“Senator Barack Obama arrived in Iraq this morning as part of a Congressional delegation, along with Senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel,� embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello said.
“The senators have a busy day ahead of them, as they meet with senior Iraqi officials, coalition leadership and officials from the US embassy. They will also meet with constituent service members and civilian staff working in Iraq.�
It is Obama’s second trip to Iraq after a similar Congressional fact-finding tour in January 2006.
He had spent the night in Kuwait after a visit to Kabul, where he pledged to downsize the number of US troops in Iraq and commit at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan.
Obama’s camp has said the aim of his tour is to make an on-the-ground assessment of the war in Iraq and to meet the country’s leaders, whom he has criticised for not doing enough to rebuild their country.
“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.
Obama also confirmed his pledge to declare an end to the Iraq war from the first day of his presidency if he wins in November, and to withdraw most US combat troops within 16 months.