By NNN-KUNA
Washington : Senator Barack Obama, a leading Democratic U.S. presidential candidate, on Wednesday said Iraq must be sent a signal that the United States will not remain there forever, and that if elected president, he wants to put his focus on Afghanistan.
In a “Fox and Friends” interview the day after he narrowly lost the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary to former first lady and senator Hillary Clinton, Obama was asked about the success of the U.S. troop surge ordered into Iraq more than a year ago by President George W. Bush.
” … I said this a long time ago, that if you send 30,000 of America’s finest troops into Baghdad, that you would see a reduction in violence, and I am happy about that, and I congratulate our soldiers and our commanders on the ground for that,” Obama said.
But the Illinois senator noted that he also has said that “even as we see a reduction in the violence, if we do not see some sort of political accommodation among the warring factions in Iraq, we do not have long-term stability. And I think the best way for us to do that is to send a signal to them that we are not going to be there forever.” Al Qaeda in Iraq is a far less threat than al Qaeda in Afghanistan, “where we know (Osama) bin Laden and his troops are still hiding along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Obama said.
“That is the most immediate threat that we face in this country. It is a threat that we have lost focus on, and it is one that I want to focus on when I am president of the United States.” Obama, 46, who hopes to become the first African-American U.S. president, said his campaign is still in a very strong position, having won handily last week in the Iowa caucuses and lost by only 2 percentage points to Clinton in New Hampshire.
“All across the country I think people want to see a candidate who can bring the country together, who can overcome the special interests and really start getting things done, and that is what I am going to try to do in Nevada, South Carolina, and then in the February 5th states,” Obama said, referring to primaries later this month and “Super Tuesday,” when more than 20 states vote on the same day early next month.
Obama noted that polls show the Democratic race is very close in South Carolina, which has a large percentage of blacks and votes on January 26. “And I think that if we do well in Nevada (on January 19), we come into South Carolina with a good head of steam, we feel confident that that is a state where we can do well.” Former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who was born in South Carolina, won that primary four years ago. Edwards placed second in Iowa and third in New Hampshire this month, and analysts believe he must win in South Carolina if he is to remain a candidate.
Obama said his job is to make sure he is communicating with voters on “how I am going to provide them health care if they do not have it, how I am going to make sure that they can make college affordable for their kids, how we are going to bring troops home from Iraq responsibly.”