WASHINGTON — As he prepares for an extensive trip overseas, Barack Obama delivered a sweeping foreign policy address Tuesday in which he sought to reassure his supporters that he remains committed to ending the war in Iraq.
Obama, who has been trying to counter perceptions that he has softened his position since he locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, said the nation's future hinged on reorienting its national security priorities so that Iraq is no longer the central thrust of the U.S. military.
"I will give our military a new mission on my first day in office: ending this war," the Illinois senator said, speaking to more than 600 people at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, against a backdrop of eight American flags. "Let me be clear: We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months."
As the Iraq war winds down, Obama said, he wants to see troops redirected to Afghanistan. He said the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda was a war "we have to win" and repeated his call for two more combat brigades in Afghanistan to counteract "deteriorating" conditions.
John McCain, Obama's rival, upped the ante Tuesday, pledging three more brigades as part of a broader plan to "turn around the war." It is the first time the Arizona senator has been specific, but he has previously called for an increase in NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan has recently turned more deadly than the one in Iraq. On Sunday, nine American soldiers were killed in a brazen insurgent attack on an outpost, the largest number of U.S. deaths in a single incident in Afghanistan since June 2005.
McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, chided Obama on Tuesday for outlining an Iraq strategy based on limited firsthand knowledge of the region. He questioned why Obama would lay out concrete plans before visiting the region and meeting with military officials, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Obama is to leave soon on a trip that will take him to the Middle East and Europe. He is also expected to visit Iraq and possibly Afghanistan.
