By Prensa Latina,
Washington : US presidential candidate Barack Obama reaffirmed his wishes to withdraw from Iraq and redeploy in Afghanistan the some 180,000 troops if he wins the elections, says The New York Times.
Senator Obama (D.-Ill.) said the US presence in Iraq goes against both people’s and US security interests and challenged President George W. Bush strategy as “a project to stay” in Iraq.
Obama, 47, also reminded that over 4,000 US citizens have been killed in this war, whose costs exceed one trillion dollars and called last Monday’s demand from Iraqi Premier Nuri Al Maliki to timetable a removal “an excellent opportunity.”
In his Op-Ed, the US presidential candidate called to “seize this moment to begin a phased redeployment of combat troops” that he has long advocated, and unlike Rep. John McCain, he limited full pullout to 16 months.
As president, Obama would also change military projection in Afghanistan, where growing rebel activity has been detected, so he would send at least two additional combat brigades.