“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.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS