BAGHDAD: Unannounced and shielded by heavy security, President Barack Obama flew to Iraq yesterday for a brief inspection of a war he opposed as a candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief. “There is still a lot of work to do here,” he declared.
Arriving not long after a deadly car bomb exploded across town, Obama spoke favorably of political progress being made in Iraq but also expressed concern that recent gains could deteriorate with the upcoming national elections.
“It’s important for us to use all of our influence to encourage the parties to resolve these issues in ways that are equitable. I think that my presence here can help do that,” he said. Obama walked off his plane after a trip from Turkey wearing a business suit, shook hands with Gen. Ray Odierno, the top US commander in the country, then stepped into an SUV for a brief ride to Camp Victory, the main American military base in Iraq.
Under gray skies, the motorcade rolled past troops standing at attention. “It was wonderful to see the troops out there,” Obama said. “I’m so grateful, they put their heart and souls into it.”
His gleaming white and blue Air force One touched down a few hours after the car bombing, in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital city, punctuated a recent surge in violence in a war that has claimed the lives of at least 4,266 members of the US military and many thousands more Iraqis since March 2003. Aides decided to scrap plans for a helicopter ride to the heavily fortified Green Zone a few miles away - but attributed the decision to poor visibility rather than security concerns.
About an hour after arriving, Obama met with about 600 of the 139,000 US troops stationed in Iraq. Aides said he was presenting combat medals to 10 of them. Officials said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki was traveling by motorcade to meet with Obama, a change from their planned get-together in the Green Zone.
En route to Iraq, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama chose this country rather than Afghanistan for a war-zone visit in part because it was near Turkey and also because progress “lies in political solutions.” “We spend a lot of time trying to get Afghanistan right, but I think it is important for people to know that there is still a lot of work to do here,” he said.
Obama’s visit came at the conclusion of a long overseas trip that included economic and NATO summits in Europe and two days in Turkey. Shortly before leaving Turkey, the president held out Iraq as an example of the change he seeks in policies inherited from former President George W. Bush.
“Moving the ship of state takes time,” he told a group of students in Istanbul. He noted his long-standing opposition to the war, yet said, “Now that we’re there,” the US troop withdrawal has to be done “in a careful enough way that we don’t see a collapse into violence.”
