Obama in fierce new war spat with McCain

WASHINGTON: Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Monday ignited a fierce new political duel with his Republican foe John McCain over Iraq, ahead of his visit to the war zone expected within weeks.

In an opinion article in the New York Times, Obama pledged to send up to 10,00 more US troops to the Afghan war and stood firm on a mid 2010 deadline to get most soldiers out of Iraq.

Backers of Obama's rival brained his article as "brazen" rewriting of history and said his past anti-war positions had made it harder for US troop to win the war in Iraq.

"As I've said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in," said Obama, who is expected to go to Iraq and Afghanistan soon, though details have been withheld for secret reasons.

"We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 month. That would be the summer of 2010, two years from now, and more than even years after the war began."

Republicans have accused Obama of ditching previous positions for political gain after he said he may "refine" his policies after meeting US commanders in Iraq.

In the New York Times article, Obama again spelled out that he was open to making "tactical adjustments," leaving himself some room for manoeuvre should he be inaugurated president next January.

"As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected

"We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later."

Obama, who is due to make a major address on the war tomorrow in Washington, also drew sharp distinctions with McCain on the long-term status of US forces in Iraq.