Iraqi agreement could complicate campaigns

updated 7:20 p.m. ET July 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - A new U.S.-Iraqi agreement raising the possibility of a withdrawal timeline threatens to complicate the war policies of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

It bolsters Obama's call for a quick exit but also could undercut one of the Democrat's signature issues — opposition to the war — as he prepares for a high-stakes trip to the region. It leaves McCain caught between his objections to any timetable and the evolving wishes of the Republican president he hopes to succeed.

Iraq has been replaced by the sputtering economy as issue No. 1 for U.S. voters, but the war remains a pivotal campaign issue even though violence there has declined.

Less than four months before the election, it is uncertain whether apparent steps toward the war's conclusion will dilute the political power of Iraq in the campaign.

McCain sought to keep it on the front-burner by unleashing a new TV ad highly critical of his Democratic rival.

The ad says Obama has not been to Iraq in years and voted against war funding to win the nomination but "now Obama is changing to help himself become president." McCain, it says, has always supported the Iraq strategy "that's working."

McCain said the accord vindicated his longstanding call for more troops but was careful to suggest it left the timing of withdrawal indefinite. Obama commended the Bush administration for dropping its opposition to discussing with Iraq the removal of U.S. combat troops and urged it to pressure the leaders of Iraqi factions to reach political accommodations.

McCain, Obama divided on Iraq
Iraq long has been a major difference between the two candidates.

Obama, with no military experience and a thin foreign policy resume, opposed the war from the start and won the Democratic nomination in part by rallying the anti-war wing of his party with a full-throated call for withdrawal. The Illinois senator promises "I will end this war" but also has said that U.S. troop safety and Iraq's stability might force him to adjust his timetable, and that his upcoming Iraq trip may lead him to refine, but not basically alter, his position.

McCain, an ex-Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war who has long specialized in national security issues, supported the decision to go to war. The Arizona senator spent years criticizing President George W. Bush for not sending more troops and now emphasizes that Bush's decision to finally do so last year has helped reduce the violence. McCain long has rejected any timetable or date for withdrawal.

The line between the two could blur now that Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have agreed to force reduction language in a broader security agreement to keep American troops in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31. Specifically, the accord would include "a general time horizon" for meeting goals like "the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq."

The language conflicts with Bush's once-rigid opposition to deadlines and timetables; he has vetoed Democratic-pushed legislation setting dates for U.S. cutbacks. The United States has resisted Iraqi calls for a specific timeline to withdraw U.S. forces. Now the White House says "a general time horizon" would not be "an arbitrary date for withdrawal."

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