The Early Word: Into The Green Zone

After visiting both Afghanistan and Kuwait this weekend, Senator Barack Obama on Monday arrived in Baghdad where he was to meet with American military officials, including General David Petraeus and Iraqi leaders and tour parts of the city. According to a dispatch from the Associated Press, Mr. Obama’s first stop in Iraq was Basra. And The Times’s Sabrina Tavernise and Jeff Zeleny report on the sticky situation caused by comments made by Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, that initially seemed to express support for Mr. Obama’s troop withdrawal plan. Mr. Malaiki later sought to walk back those remarks. The Politico’s Jonathan Martin observes that Mr. Obama’s overseas trip “seems to have come at the perfect time as recent events in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran have played into his message.” With Mr. Obama traveling... [read full story]