Barack Obama’s final few hours in Iraq began this morning with breakfast at a former palace of Saddam Hussein, which currently functions as the US Embassy in Baghdad.

Looking relaxed in an open-collar shirt, he ate with fellow senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel, as well as a small group of constituents from their home states, before heading to a small airport in the Green Zone to fly west to the city of Ramadi, a former al-Qaeda stronghold.

The trip, to meet tribal leaders who have turned against the Sunni Islamist group, was the last stop on a two-day tour of Iraq, which appears to have left Mr Obama in no doubt that the Iraqi Government is looking for a timeline from the United States to withdraw combat troops — something that he has also been advocating.

“Iraqis want an aspirational timeline, with a clear date, for the redeployment of American combat forces,” said a joint statement from the three senators.

It quoted Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who met Mr Obama yesterday, as saying that Baghdad does not want an open-ended presence of such troops.

“The Prime Minister said that now is an appropriate time to start to plan for the reorganisation of our troops in Iraq — including their numbers and missions. He stated his hope that US combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010,” according to the statement that was released last night.

Mr Obama has said that he wants to pull the combat element of the US deployment out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office, if elected president in November. Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi Government spokesman, said yesterday that Baghdad’s “vision” was for all US combat forces to leave by the end of 2010.

At the same time the senators’ statement alluded to a desire by Iraq for a long-term US military presence to help train the Iraqi security forces and also assist in “counter-terrorist operations”.

Soldiers tasked with advising and training are not regarded as combat forces.

Reiterating Mr Obama’s overall vision for a change of direction, the senators also said: "America has a strategic opportunity to build a new kind of partnership with Iraq and to refocus our foreign policy on the many other pressing challenges around the world — starting with the resurgence of al-Qaeda and the Taleban in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

In a whirlwind trip that started in the southern oil port of Basra — once a Shia militia trouble spot — yesterday morning, Mr Obama held a series of meetings with top Iraqi, US and British officials, including the Prime Minister and Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President, in Baghdad.

He was also briefed by General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to the country.

The visit, Obama's second to Iraq, was not all serious discussions, however.

The Democratic presidential candidate found time to meet hundreds of civilian and military well-wishers in Baghdad last night at a special event in a large hall in the Embassy.

He stood on a stage with the two other senators to address the crowd before mingling with them, shaking hands and posing for photographs.

Jordan is the next destination on a tour of the Middle East and Europe intended to strengthen Mr Obama's foreign policy credentials. He is also due to fly to Israel before heading to Germany, France and London. The senator spent the weekend in Afghanistan, with a one-night stopover in Kuwait.

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