- Apr 8, 2001
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CNN) ? A day after his Republican counterpart sat down with visiting Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, Barack Obama spoke with him by phone from Chicago Monday morning and told him that he looked forward to seeing him in Baghdad before November.
?I emphasized to him how encouraged I was by the reductions in violence in Iraq, but also insisted that it is important for us to begin the process of withdrawing US troops, making clear that we have no interest in permanent bases in Iraq,? Obama told reporters upon landing in Michigan for a two-day swing through the state.
The Illinois senator misspoke when he argued that Zebari and ?President Maliki? are concerned about Iraq?s sovereignty and are not seeking a long-term occupation by the United States. Jalal al-Talabani is the president of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki is the prime minister.
?I gave [Zebari] an assurance that should we be elected, an Obama administration will make sure that we continue with the progress that's been made in Iraq, that we won't act precipitously,? said Obama.
Obama said Zebari did not express concern about a withdrawal of American troops, saying, ?He did emphasize his belief that we've made real progress and I think was eager to see political accommodations between the factions follow up in the wake of this progress.?
So, not only has he already decided that the Pentagon doesn't need or want any bases in Iraq, we have another statement that the great troop pullout of 2008 is a figment of the leftist loons imagination. With all these flip-flops it's getting hard to tell which side he's trying to pander to.