“There is still a lot of work to do here,” US President Barack Obama declared in Baghdad.
He could have been talking about every stop of his jam-packed, eight-day, six-country overseas trip.
In London, Obama joined other world leaders in trying to tackle the spiraling global economic crisis. In France, he sought help from NATO allies in dealing with the deteriorating war in Afghanistan. In the Czech Republic, he pledged to end the threat of nuclear weapons. In Turkey, he sought to start repairing the US’ dismal standing in the Muslim world. And in Iraq, he pushed for Iraqis to “take responsibility for their own country.”
The president returned to Washington in the early hours yesterday morning, bringing his lengthy debut on the world stage — including his first stop in a war zone as commander in chief — to a close.
Obama flew unannounced into Iraq, where he told US troops and Iraqi officials alike on Tuesday that it was time to phase out the US’ combat role in a conflict he opposed as a candidate and has vowed to end as commander in chief.
Iraqis “need to take responsibility for their own country,” Obama told hundreds of cheering soldiers gathered in an ornate, marble palace near late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s former seat of power.
“You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country. That is an extraordinary achievement,” he told the troops, saluting their efforts during six years of US fighting and losses.
“We love you,” someone yelled from the crowd of photo-snapping men and women in uniform.
“I love you back,” the president responded, repeating a sequence that played out at hundreds of campaign stops on his successful run for the White House last year.
Obama met top US commanders as well as senior Iraqi leaders on a visit of a little more than four hours that was confined to Camp Victory, the largest US military base in a war that began in 2003 and has cost the lives of 4,265 members of the US military. Many thousands more Iraqis have perished.
A helicopter flight to the heavily fortified Green Zone a few miles distant was scrapped, but White House aides attributed the change in travel plans to poor weather rather than security concerns.
After a session with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Obama said he had “strongly encouraged” Iraqis to take political steps that would unite political factions, including integrating minority Sunnis into the government and security forces.
Al-Maliki told reporters: “We assured the president that all the progress that has been made in the security area will continue.”
Obama flew from Turkey, the next-to-last stop on an eight-day itinerary that also included Britain, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.
Aides said Obama chose to visit Iraq rather than Afghanistan, where US troops are also in combat, in part because it was close to Turkey and in part because of upcoming Iraqi elections.
Obama announced plans in February to withdraw US troops from Iraq on a 19-month timetable, although a force as large as 50,000 could remain at the end of that period to provide counterterrorism duties.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to