Obama says committed to Iraq timetable

AMMAN: US Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday pledged to work relentlessly for peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on the "two-state" vision if he elected president. Addressing a press conference in Amman, Obama said he was committed to a 16-month timetable for a US military withdrawal from Iraq. The question of when to withdraw some 147,000 US troops in Iraq overshadowed the first-term senator's trip. Obama has made his opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 a centerpiece of his election campaign. Obama voiced concern because of the shaky position of the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the disruption in the Palestinian ranks resulting from Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June last year after defeating President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah forces. "It is my firm... [read full story]