Anne Penketh: President careful not to trumpet mission achieved

After seven years of blood and treasure poured into Iraq, President Barack Obama has sought to "turn the page" on the war that defined the presidency of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Obama spoke briefly to Bush by telephone yesterday before delivering an Oval office address to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq.

"It's well known that he and I disagreed about the war from the outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush's support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security," he said.

If Iraq defined the presidency of Bush, Iran will define that of Obama.

Yet Iran was strangely absent from the speech in which, sensing the mood across the country, he dwelled on the economic difficulties suffered by the American middle class.

Turning to Afghanistan, he recalled that the war had its roots in the events of 9/11, warning that al Qaeda was still plotting against Americans. He also pledged that, as with Iraq, his deadline for transition would be met.

The rest of this week Obama will focus on the Middle East conflict, and hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in direct talks.

But he made scant reference to his intentions at the first such talks in two years which have been greeted with yawns by most US commentators.

Obama's foreign policy is not that radically different from that of Bush.

He has of course ditched the "neo-con" ideology that would have spread Western democratic values across the globe. He has also abandoned the Bush lexicon, no longer denouncing "rogue states" or an "axis of evil" but referring instead to the "outliers" which remain outside the international consensus.

But the prime difference between their presidencies is Obama's multilateral approach.

Multilateralism and the United Nations were anathema to Bush. Otherwise, on Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Obama policy broadly reflects that of his predecessor. And significantly, Obama retained Bush's Secretary of Defence, Bob Gates.

Obama is no pacifist. He has demonstrated as much on Afghanistan, where he ordered a "surge" to a total of 100,000 troops and appointed Bush's military commander from Iraq, General David Petraeus. The same goes for the Administration's containment policy against Iran. Like Bush, he has continued to stress all options are on the table, while offering dialogue as a way out of crisis.

It's election season in the US, with mid-term elections looming in November, which is why Obama is looking for positive news on the foreign policy front.

He noted that he was making good on his election promise to draw down the US troops in Iraq where 4400 soldiers have lost their lives since 2003. The remaining 50,000 troops, whose mission is now essentially to "advise and assist" Iraqi security forces, are to be withdrawn by the end of next year.

Obama can also point to an improved relationship with Russia, the famous "reset" needed to broaden the coalition against a nuclear Iran. He is confident that "America will continue to lead the world".

But the main task of his presidency over the next two years will inevitably be to try to dig the country out of the Great Recession.

For the Republican opposition, Obama is a weak President who has sacrificed national security in the interests of better relations with Russia. House Minority leader John Boehner this week was scornful of Obama's record, commenting that "the foreign policy of the United States should not be built on a platform of apologies, corrections, and reset buttons".

He added that "using campaign promises as a yardstick to measure success in Iraq and Afghanistan runs the risk of triggering artificial victory laps and premature withdrawal dates unconnected to conditions on the ground".

Obama was careful not to trumpet "mission accomplished" in his televised address, words that have returned to haunt his predecessor who declared a premature victory in Iraq.

Instead, he said "we must earn victory through the success of our partners and the strength of our own nation".