Iraqi Prime Minister's message to Obama "misunderstood and mistranslated"

KABUL, Afghanistan —

As Sen. Barack Obama heads to Iraq for his first visit as a presidential candidate today, his plan for bringing the war to a swift conclusion is triggering a political furor abroad and at home.

Obama is to meet with political leaders who were scrambling over the weekend to clarify an apparent endorsement of his proposal to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq in 16 months.

The stop in Iraq is part of a weeklong tour of the Middle East and Europe, affording Obama the chance to showcase a fluency in foreign affairs.

An interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, published Saturday in the online version of Der Spiegel, a German magazine, was widely picked up by U.S. newspapers because it appeared to give an unexpected boost to Obama.

The interview prompted immediate concern from the Bush administration, which sought a clarification from al-Maliki's office, U.S. officials said. Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said embassy officials explained to the Iraqis how the interview was being interpreted, given that it came just a day after the two governments publicly announced an agreement over U.S. troops.

"The Iraqis were not aware and wanted to correct it," he said.

Meeting with Karzai

The back-and-forth came as Obama finished a one-day trip to Afghanistan, where he met with President Hamid Karzai for nearly two hours Sunday. He wants to wind down U.S. involvement in Iraq and redeploy troops and resources to Afghanistan, a country he said has devolved yet again into a sanctuary for terrorists intent on harming the United States.

Obama said the United States, NATO and Afghanistan must step up efforts to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida forces and to encourage Pakistan to eliminate terrorist training camps.

"There is starting to be a growing consensus that it's time for us to withdraw some of our combat troops out of Iraq, deploy them here in Afghanistan," Obama said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"And I think we have to seize that opportunity. Now is the time for us to do it."

As Obama made his way to Iraq for meetings with U.S. military commanders and Iraqi officials today, he made an overnight stop in Kuwait, where he met with the emir, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, according to a Kuwait government news agency.

But in Iraq, controversy continued to reverberate between the U.S. and Iraqi governments over the weekend news report that al-Maliki expressed support for Obama's proposed withdrawal. The reported comments came after Bush agreed Friday to a "general time horizon" for pulling out troops from Iraq without a specific timeline.

U.S. envoys in Baghdad spoke to al-Maliki's advisers Saturday, a U.S. official said. After that communication, the government's spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, issued a statement casting doubt on the magazine's account.

Translation disputed

The statement, which the U.S. military distributed to the media Sunday, said al-Maliki's words had been "misunderstood and mistranslated," but it failed to cite specifics.

"Unfortunately, Der Spiegel was not accurate," al-Dabbagh said Sunday. "I have the recording of the voice of Mr. Maliki. We even listened to the translation."

But the interpreter for the interview works for al-Maliki's office, not the magazine. And in an audio recording of al-Maliki's interview that Der Spiegel provided to The New York Times, al-Maliki seemed to state a clear affinity for Obama's position, bringing it up on his own in an answer to a general question on troop presence.

The following is a direct translation from the Arabic of al-Maliki's comments by The New York Times: "Obama's remarks that — if he takes office — in 16 months he would withdraw the forces, we think that this period could increase or decrease a little, but that it could be suitable to end the presence of the forces in Iraq."

He continued: "Who wants to exit in a quicker way has a better assessment of the situation in Iraq."

Al-Maliki's top political adviser, Sadiq al-Rikabi, declined to comment on the remarks but spoke in general about the Iraqi position Sunday. Part of the Iraqi position, he said, comes from domestic political pressure to withdraw.

"Foreign soldiers in the middle of the most populated areas is not without its side effects," he said. "Shouldn't we look to an end for this unhealthy situation?"

Obama's movements remained shrouded in secrecy, but Iraqi officials said he was to meet with al-Maliki before the prime minister leaves on a visit to Germany today, and also with President Jalal Talabani.

Obama's campaign staff also released some details of his upcoming visit to Germany. On Thursday he is to give what his campaign bills as a "major speech on the historic U.S.-German [partnership]" in Tiergarten Park in Berlin.

Obama had wanted to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Cold War hostilities. But the German chancellor, Andrea Merkel, expressed reservations about holding a political event there.

McCain's June spending

outstrips contributions

Barack Obama cut back on his spending in June after securing the Democratic presidential nomination, building up his cash on hand as Republican rival John McCain outspent him with a heavy dose of television advertising.

Unlike McCain, who spent more than he raised in June, Obama accumulated cash during the month, holding back on a ramped-up television campaign until July. Obama is now matching McCain's and the Republican Party's spending on advertising.

The different financial pictures reflect two distinct strategies by the campaigns. McCain plans to accept $84 million in public funds for the fall presidential campaign, a move that prevents him from raising or spending any more money above that sum.

Obama has decided to bypass the public finance system, the first major party presidential candidate in three decades to do so in the general election. That means Obama needs to build up his cash reserves going into the fall campaign, whereas McCain needs to deplete his.

The Associated Press