Iraqi Prime Minister Supports Obama’s Troop Withdrawal Plan

BAGHDAD _ Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threw his support behind Barack Obama’s troop withdrawal plan in an interview published Saturday, ahead of an expected visit by the Illinois senator to a significantly calmer Baghdad than the one he last encountered two years ago.

“U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months,” al-Maliki told the German news weekly Der Spiegel, referring to the plan Obama articulated last week to bring U.S. troops home over a 16-month period starting next year.

“That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,” al-Maliki said.

Obama, who was in Afghanistan on Saturday, has said he will also visit Iraq, but the precise timing of the trip has been kept under wraps for security reasons.

That Iraq’s prime minister is now publicly endorsing Obama’s Iraq proposals may make it difficult for Republican presidential contender John McCain to continue to justify his support for a more open-ended Iraq commitment.

Al-Maliki said his support for Obama’s plan was not intended as an endorsement of his candidacy. However, he added, “those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq are being more realistic.”

“Artificially prolonging the tenure of U.S. troops in Iraq would cause problems,” al-Maliki said.

Already, momentum is building toward some form of withdrawal timetable, amid continued evidence that the surge of an extra 30,000 US troops last year has worked to bring down violence.

On Friday, the White House announced that it is discussing with the Iraqi government a “general time horizon” for the handover of security to Iraqi forces and the drawdown of American troops.

Confronted with al-Maliki’s support for his opponent’s position, the McCain campaign issued a statement saying that if it weren’t for the surge, which Obama opposed, “we would not be in the position to discuss a responsible withdrawal today.”

“The difference between John McCain and Barack Obama is that Barack Obama advocates an unconditional withdrawal that ignores the facts on the ground and the advice of our top military commanders,” the statement said. “Timing is not as important as whether we leave with victory and honor, which is of no apparent concern to Barack Obama.”

The Obama campaign welcomed al-Maliki’s support, saying it represents “an important opportunity to transition to Iraqi responsibility, while restoring our military and increasing our commitment to finish the fight in Afghanistan.”

Though their government has recently come around to the view that it wants a withdrawal timetable, Iraqis are divided on the issue, with many expressing fears that a pullout in the near future would trigger a new round of bloodletting and others hoping to see U.S. troops go as soon as possible.

In a further boost to al-Maliki’s rising fortunes Saturday, the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, the Sunni National Accord Front, returned to his coalition government after a nearly yearlong boycott that had stalled progress toward political reconciliation.

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