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Obama, McCain debate on Iraq policy

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-09 10:54

WASHINGTON - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki's public demand for the US troops withdrawal timetable from the country fueled on Tuesday the debate between Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain on Iraq policy.

US Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain smiles as he addresses a League of United Latin American Citizens conference in Washington, July 8, 2008. [Agencies]

McCain insisted that any further withdrawal of US troops in Iraq should be based on security situation on the ground.

"I have always said we will come home with honor and with victory and not through a set timetable," he said in an interview with MSNBC, adding that Iraqis would act in their own national interests and so does the United States.

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The Arizona senator warned that despite recent security gains, "the victory we have achieved so far is fragile and (the redeployment) has to be dictated by events and on the ground."

Al-Maliki told Arab ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates on Monday that he has pressed for a withdrawal timetable when negotiating with the United States on an agreement about American forces status beyond 2008.

It was the first time for the Iraqi leader to publicly announced that he had demanded a timetable for a US withdrawal.

For his part, Obama told reporters in St. Louis, Missouri, that Maliki's remarks was in line with his own policy on Iraq.

"I think that his statement is consistent with my view about how withdrawals should proceed," the Illinois senator said. "I think it's encouraging ... that the prime minister himself now acknowledges that in cooperation with Iraq, it's time for American forces to start sending out a timeframe for the withdrawal.

He urged the current government and McCain who was considered echoing President George W. Bush's Iraq policy to listen to the Iraqi leader.

However, Obama, who has vowed to begin withdrawing all US combat troops in Iraq in the first 16 months after he takes the White House, noted last week that he might redefine the Iraq policy after he listens to the military commanders in Iraq when traveling to the country later this month.

In response to Maliki, the White House said on Monday that the Iraqi government was not negotiating a "hard date" for a US withdrawal from Iraq but it did not rule out discussions on "time- frames" with Baghdad.

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