White House hopeful Barack Obama yesterday ended a high-profile tour to Iraq by sharing a common vision with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of withdrawing US forces from the country by 2010.
Obama criss-crossed volatile areas of the war-wracked country during a two-day trip to meet Iraqi leaders, US military commanders and former insurgents who switched allegiances to battle Al-Qaeda.
His trip along with Senators Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed came days after he renewed a pledge to withdraw US forces from Iraq within 16 months if he takes the White House next year, a vision apparently shared by Maliki.
"The prime minister said that now is an appropriate time to start to plan for the reorganisation of our troops in Iraq -- including their numbers and missions," Obama said in a statement released with the two other senators.
"He stated his hope that US combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010."
A separate statement issued by Maliki's office after the two leaders met on Monday said Obama supported the gains achieved by Iraqi and US forces in areas of security and stability.
"I congratulate you (Maliki) on the achievements of your government ... I am supportive and committed to preserving the gains the Iraqi government achieved under your leadership," the statement in Arabic quoted Obama as saying.
The Illinois senator, however, for the first time conceded that he had not anticipated how well the US troop "surge" would work -- a key political flashpoint with his Republican rival John McCain.
McCain, lining up for battle against Obama in November elections, has slammed the idea of what he calls artificial timetables for a US withdrawal and says a longer term presence is vital to preserving security gains.
Obama had opposed the March 2003 invasion of Iraq as well as the deployment of extra forces in a troop "surge" last year.
He told ABC News he "did not anticipate ... the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni Awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided that they had had enough with Al-Qaeda, in the Shiia community the militias standing down to some degrees.
"So what you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops."
McCain said on Monday that the Baghdad visit would show Obama he was wrong to oppose the surge, and he hoped his White House rival would "admit that he badly misjudged the situation."
Before winding up his Iraq visit, Obama on Tuesday met anti-Qaeda fighters in Iraq's former rebel stronghold of Anbar province.
Jamal al-Mashhadani, a spokesman for the province, said Obama met Anbar governor Mamoon Sami Rasheed and several leaders of anti-Qaeda groups, including Sheikh Ahmed Abu Reesha, head of the Anbar Awakening Council.