Senator Barack Obama is setting the stage for his upcoming visit to Iraq with a high-profile explanation of his opposition to the war there and his pledge to complete a US troop pullout within 16 months of becoming president.
In a major speech scheduled yesterday, the Democrat was to explain how missteps in Iraq have hurt efforts to strengthen US security, aides said.
He was also to discuss his proposal to add two new brigades in Afghanistan, as well as call for Pakistan to step up its own efforts dealing with terrorists.
PHOTO: AFP
In addition, the speech was to discuss Obama’s belief in the need for diplomacy to address Iran’s nuclear program, while addressing other global challenges such as climate change and energy security, the aides said.
Later in the day, Obama was to conduct a series of television interviews to bolster his remarks.
The flurry of activity followed an Obama op-ed piece in the New York Times that called for additional US brigades, about 7,000 more troops in Afghanistan and argued the US faces a growing threat from a resurgent al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
His rival, John McCain, also planned an address tomorrow focused on Afghanistan. Nine US soldiers were killed and 14 wounded on Sunday, the US military’s highest death toll there in three years.
McCain has accused Obama of favoring surrender in Iraq by outlining a troop withdrawal timetable.
He told reporters on Monday: “I think we need to do whatever is necessary [in Afghanistan] and that could entail more troops.”
Obama has visited Iraq only once and has never been to Afghanistan. He plans to visit both during a trip later this month that will also take him to Jordan and Israel in the Middle East, as well as Germany, France and Britain.
A top Palestinian negotiator said on Monday that the Democrat would also go to the West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Saeb Erekat said Obama would travel to Ramallah on July 23.
McCain has visited Israel, but did not meet with the Palestinians.
Obama will be accompanied by Senators Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed. Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, is a Vietnam War veteran, while Reed is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and former Army Ranger. Both have been mentioned as possible Obama vice presidential running mates.
McCain has lambasted Obama for his lack of travel in the region and for not meeting in Iraq with the top US commander, Army General David Petraeus.
Obama has been trumpeting the fact that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last week his country wanted some type of timetable for a withdrawal of US forces included in a deal needed to keep US troops in Iraq after a UN mandate expires at year’s end.
US President George W. Bush opposes a withdrawal timetable, arguing it would embolden insurgents and prompt them to lay in wait for a US departure.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to