With Surprise Iraq Visit, Obama Returns Focus to Drawdown Plan

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In a twist to a trip that took President Barack Obama from debating the economy at the Group of 20 summit in London to pledging to stop nuclear proliferation in Prague, the Czech Republic, he made a surprise stop in Iraq today, where he is meeting with U.S. military commanders and troops. The trip marked his first visit to the country since becoming president and comes a little more than a month after he laid out plans for a drawdown by the summer of 2010.

There had been some speculation as to whether Obama would stop in Iraq or Afghanistan before heading home. Afghanistan seemed likely because Obama had recently laid out a new strategy for the conflict, which he pitched to NATO at summits in France and Germany on his eight-day European tour. But Obama's stop in Iraq—coming just after bombings killed at least 11 people in Baghdad and Fallujah today in another indication of the region's continuing violence—highlights the reality that ending the conflict there remains a crucial priority for the new president. "Obviously, we've spent a lot of time trying to get Afghanistan right," Obama said in Baghdad today. "But I think it's important for us to remember that there's still a lot of work to be done here."

Obama's visit comes one day after a series of bombings killed 37 people in Baghdad, another reminder that Iraq's sectarian conflicts remain deeply unsettled. Another car bomb exploded in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad this morning hours before Obama's arrival. Iraq's Interior Ministry warned that Baghdad residents should expect more bombings in the coming days.

At the U.S. military base Camp Victory in Baghdad, Obama's agenda included meeting with Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the forces there. He also met with U.S. troops to hand out medals for valor, including one to Beau Biden, a National Guard captain who is the vice president's son, reports Politico. And Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was expected to head over to Camp Victory to meet with the president.

Speaking to journalists on the president's plane, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that Iraq was picked as a stop over Afghanistan because of its proximity to Turkey, which was the last announced stop on Obama's trip, and because the president wanted to talk with officials about the country's postwar reconstruction. He also wanted to thank the troops, Gibbs said. "They are doing extraordinary work," Obama said at Camp Victory.

For security reasons, the White House kept the stop firmly under wraps. That secrecy made Obama's stop reminiscent of those of his predecessor, who made several unannounced stops in Iraq or Afghanistan. But the purpose of Obama's trip probably was far different: to get a feeling on the ground for how best to execute a withdrawal from the country.

As a candidate, a major part of Obama's platform, at least before the fiscal crisis hit, was withdrawing from Iraq. He was never as far to the left on the issue as some of his colleagues wanted, telling NBC's Tim Russert in May 2008 that rather than removing the troops all at once, he would implement a "very deliberate and prudent," phased withdrawal occurring over "about 16 months." In the Oval Office, however, he has moved with even more caution, announcing a plan that would bring combat troops in Iraq home by Aug. 31, 2010—in 16 months—but leave 35,000 to 50,000 troops in Iraq through 2011 to manage the transition. "It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis. They need to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty," Obama told U.S. troops in Iraq. "We can't do it for them. But what we can do is make sure that we are a stalwart partner, that we are working alongside them."

The decision to leave so many troops in Iraq at the end of the drawdown has prompted some criticism from Democrats and others who wish to see the United States leave at once. "I don't know what the justification is for 50,000, a presence of 50,000 troops in Iraq," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after Obama's announcement.

But Obama has insisted that a gradual withdrawal is the more responsible course. "Moving the ship of state is a slow process," he told a roundtable of students in Istanbul today, just before leaving for Baghdad. "When it comes to Iraq, I opposed the war in Iraq. I thought it was a bad idea. Now that we're there, I have a responsibility to make sure that as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that we don't see a complete collapse into violence."

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