Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Sunday said that if elected to the White House, he would make strategic decisions in the context of the problems the United States has been facing, including the fight against terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"It would be my job as commander in chief, to set the mission, to make the strategic decisions in light of the problems that we're having in Afghanistan, in light of the problems that we are having in Pakistan, the fact that Al Qaida is strengthening, as our national intelligence estimates have indicated, since 2001," Obama told Fox News.
He also said that if elected president, he would set a performance timetable for the Iraqi government.
Asked whether he would vote for General David Petraeus, who will succeed Admiral William Fallon as commander of all US forces in the Middle East if confirmed by the Senate, Obama replied in the affirmative.
"Yes... I think Petraeus has done a good tactical job in Iraq. I think as a practical matter, obviously, that's where most of the attention has been devoted from this administration over the last several years," Obama replied.
Petraeus was nominated last week to take over as commander of US forces in the Middle East from Fallon, who resigned in March after becoming an outspoken critic of the American policy towards Iran.
Obama criticised the Bush administration for not listening to various observations made by Fallon on Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"I was also a big respecter of Admiral Fallon, who Petraeus is now replacing, and I think it was unfortunate that the administration wasn't listening more to the observations of Fallon, that we have to think about more than just Iraq, that we've got issues with Iran and Pakistan and Afghanistan, and our singular focus on Iraq I think has distracted us,"
Obama said.
Not too long ago, Obama made it known that if there was indeed actionable intelligence of the presence of top Al Qaeda leadership in the northern areas of Pakistan, he would instruct American forces to capture them. His comments were denounced by Islamabad.
Asked whether he would replace Petraeus if elected to the White House, Obama hinted that he would continue to work with the war's current commanders.
"I will listen to General Petraeus, given the experience that he has accumulated over the last several years. It would be stupid of me to ignore what he has to say," Obama said.
"What I will do is say, we have a new mission. It's my strategic assessment that we have to provide a timetable to the Iraqi government.
"What I will not do is to continue to let the Iraqi government off the hook and allow them to put our foreign policy on ice, while they dither about making decisions about how they're going to cooperate with each other," he said.
