Obama Praises Growing Non-Military U.S.-Iraq Ties

Enlarge Alex Brandon/AP Photo

President Barack Obama used visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to extoll the growing non-military relations between the two nations.

Alex Brandon/AP Photo

President Barack Obama used visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to extoll the growing non-military relations between the two nations.

President Barack Obama took the opportunity of his Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to repeat his pledge to have U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by August of next year and all troops out by 2011.

Of course as Thomas Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security points out, there's no such thing as non-combat troops in the U.S. military.

So you have to wonder what Obama means exactly since even military trainers are drawn from combat units because they're teaching Iraqi soldiers how to conduct military operations.

Anyway, besides reiterating his pledge on withdrawing U.S. troops, Obama wanted to make the point that the U.S.-Iraq relationship is evolving into a partnership that goes beyond military considerations.

He said:

But we didn't just talk about military and security issues. What is wonderful about this trip is that it represents a transition in our bilateral relationship so that we are moving now to issues beyond security and we are beginning to talk about economy, trade, commerce. The business and investment conference that's taking place is going to be very well attended. It includes not only Prime Minister Maliki but business leaders from both the United States and Iraq. We've seen over the last several months progress being made on providing clarification about investment laws inside of Iraq. There are obviously enormous opportunities for our countries to do business together.