Senior Iraqi backs Obama withdrawal plan

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Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L6134410.htm

BAGHDAD, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A senior Iraqi official on Thursday explicitly backed U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's plans to withdraw combat troops from the country by mid-2010, Baghdad's clearest endorsement yet of Obama's exit strategy.

The outgoing administration of President George W. Bush presented Iraq with a "final text" of a pact accepting Baghdad's demand that troops leave in three years, but Baghdad said it wanted more talks on questions that were still unresolved.

Asked to comment on Obama's pledge to pull combat troops out within 16 months of taking office, National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told Al-Arabiya television: "We think 16 months is good."

Iraqi officials were reluctant to publicly endorse Obama's plan while the campaign was under way. Obama's opponent John McCain -- and the Bush administration -- opposed setting a timeline, although the administration relented in recent months.

"Obama's presence at the head of the U.S. administration will give new blood, new thoughts and new plans. We want to be in a fundamental alliance with the United States," Rubaie said.