Giuliani Meets With Iraqi President, Discusses War

Wednesday, September 26th 2007, 3:41 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani met privately Wednesday with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and indicated that he would keep a U.S. presence in Iraq for as long as necessary, campaign aides said.

The former New York mayor is one of the few GOP candidates who has never been to Iraq. Talabani, in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, provided what Giuliani aides described as an optimistic report about progress in the region during the meeting.

Giuliani, in turn, emphasized his support for a unified Iraq and indicated that he would keep a U.S. presence in that country for as long as necessary, aides said.

The Republican front-runner in national polls has long backed the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq as well as this year's troop build-up. He often deflects questions about the war, deferring to military commanders, and has waded less into the specifics of how he would handle the conflict if he were to win the presidency.