Barack Obama’s campaign denied a New York Post report Monday that said the Democratic presidential candidate privately tried to persuade Iraqi political leaders to stall an agreement on scaling back American troops in Iraq while publicly campaigning for a speedy withdrawal.
Obama’s request for a delay was a major theme of his talks with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview with the Post.
Obama also tried to persuade the U.S. commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to offer a “realistic withdrawal date,” the Post reported. The commanders declined, the newspaper said.
A top foreign policy adviser to Obama sat in on the meetings between the candidate and Iraqi officials this summer and said no such conversations occurred, the campaign said Monday.
Obama has said he wants U.S. troops out of Iraq as rapidly as possible, and while the U.S. negotiates a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq, Obama wants that brought to Congress.
According to the report in the Post, Obama said he wants the Bush administration excluded from the negotiations, given its “state of weakness and political confusion.”
The New York Post article raises doubts about Obama’s call to withdraw combat troops by 2010, especially if his request for a delayed agreement had been accepted. By the time a new Iraqi government is elected, fully operational, can form a new coalition government and comes up with a draft accord, it will already by May 2010, the Post noted. It could take another six months for the draft to be passed into law.
FOX NEWS
