Blog: did McCain rough up a Sandinista?

Barack Obama threw a cloud of doubt around his flagship policy yesterday, after the Democratic nominee admitted he was ready to “refine” plans for the withdrawal of all American combat troops within 16 months of taking office.

Speaking on a campaign stop in North Dakota, Mr Obama promised to use his forthcoming trip to the Middle East for a "thorough assessment" of whether the "conditions still hold" for his proposed pull-out.

“I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed,” he said. “And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.”

Mr Obama has already been accused to tracking to the centre — or even lurching to the right - since clinching his party's nomination last month. He has infuriated liberal activists by supporting legislation for domestic wire-tapping of terror suspects and praising a Supreme Court ruling which struck down a ban on handguns. He has delivered a hardline speech against Iran, suggested his anti-free trade rhetoric was "over-heated," while going back on an earlier promise to use only strictly-limited public funds in the coming general election campaign.

Although he had made opposition to the war in Iraq his signature issue during his long contest with Hillary Clinton, his campaign had begun to drop hints recently that the inflexible 16-month timetable put at risk the improvement in security earned at great cost in blood and money by the US military.

A report co-authored by Colin Kahl, an Obama adviser, last month argued for a policy of "conditional engagement" by which American troops would remain if the Iraq government made meaningful political progress towards sectarian reconciliation.

John McCain, who this week reshuffled his much-criticised campaign team, has been goading Mr Obama about Iraq by pointing out it is more than two years since the Democrat visited the country.

Yesterday a Republican National Committee spokesman said: “There appears to be no issue that Barack Obama is not willing to reverse himself on for the sake of political expedience. Obama’s Iraq problem undermines the central premise of his candidacy and shows him to be a typical politician.”

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