US PRESIDENT Barack Obama told US troops in Iraq that the next 18 months would be vital to their mission in the country.
“This is going to be a critical period, these next 18 months,” Mr Obama said on an unannounced visit yesterday to Baghdad. He was referring to the August 2010 deadline for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq.
“You will be critical in terms of us being able to make sure Iraq is stable, that it is not a safe haven for terrorists, and we can start bringing our folks home,” he told troops at Camp Victory, the sprawling US military base on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Mr Obama delivered his message following his departure from Turkey. The White House said the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno, told the president that, even with bombings this week in Iraq, the level of violence in the country was the lowest since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003.
The president’s visit was shrouded in secrecy and came a day after a string of seemingly co-ordinated bombings across the Iraqi capital killed 37 people.
Yesterday, a car bomb killed nine people and wounded 20 in the Shia Kadhimiya district of northwest Baghdad, police said.
The attacks underscored security challenges as the US military prepares to implement Mr Obama’s order to withdraw all combat troops by August 2010.
The president said he had come to Iraq for face-to-face meetings and to get a better sense of the security situation.
The sectarian warfare and insurgency unleashed by the US-led invasion have receded sharply over the past year, but Iraqi security forces still face huge challenges as they take on policing and military operations from the US. Mr Obama said there had been significant progress in Iraq, but much work remained to be done by the leaders of Iraq’s squabbling political factions to reach “equitable, fair” solutions. – (Reuters)