Richardson Calls For Total Force Withdrawal In Iraq

Sunday, June 10th 2007, 2:08 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson said Sunday he wanted a total withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq and that American troops are targets in a civil war.

``I would leave no troops in Iraq whatsoever,'' Richardson said. ``The difference between me and the other candidates is, they would leave troops there indefinitely, and I would not.''

He said a U.S. withdrawal should be used as leverage to promote a reconciliation conference of sectarian groups, an all-Muslim peacekeeping force and a donor conference to rebuild Iraq.

Richardson says U.S. troops should be redeployed by the end of the year to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. Other Democratic presidential candidates also advocate troop withdrawals but leave room for residual forces.

The Bush administration envisions a decades-long U.S. presence in Iraq.

One Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, said, ``We aren't talking about staying forever.'' But he said a long-term training and advisory presence is possible.

``The fact is that if we can withdraw to bases and then eventually close those bases and come home, that's the plan,'' the Arizona senator said.

McCain said it's a shame that ``September seems to be a magic moment'' for deciding whether President Bush's troop surge in Iraq is working. Bush is due to receive an assessment then from Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Baghdad.

``I'm hoping that he would come back and say, `We've achieved a certain measure of success,' to give us some hope and optimism,'' McCain said. ``I'm hoping that can happen, but not in my wildest dreams do I expect him to come back and say, `Everything's fine now,' just a few months after we've adopted a new strategy. That would be crazy.''

Richardson spoke on CNN's ``Late Edition.'' McCain's interview last week with ABC's ``This Week'' aired Sunday.

___

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has sought out former Secretary of State Colin Powell for advice on foreign policy matters.

While Powell served in the administrations of two Republican presidents, he said Sunday it was too early in the 2008 race to say whether he would back the GOP nominee.

``I'm going to support the best person that I can find who will lead this country for the eight years beginning in January of 2009,'' Powell said.

Powell was secretary of state under President Bush and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman for the first President Bush.

Powell said he has met twice with Obama, the Illinois senator. ``I've been around this town a long time and I know everybody who is running for office. And I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me,'' Powell said.

Powell said he does not want to serve in elected office but was less certain about a return to some government post.

``I would not rule it out. I am not at all interested in political life if you mean elected political life. That is unchanged. But I always keep my eyes open and my ears open to requests for service,'' he said.

He was interviewed on ``Meet the Press'' on NBC.

___

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee suggested he might change his mind about competing in the Iowa straw poll.

Huckabee said Sunday that for now, he intends to compete. But ``if the front-runners aren't going to play, we all have to start assessing the impact and importance and what it would look like if we were to win it,'' the former Arkansas governor said.

Leading GOP candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain said last week they would skip the straw poll. That would leave only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney among the top-tier candidates planning to participate in what has been a traditional test of early strength.

Lesser-known candidates such as Huckabee, Sen. Sam Brownback and Rep. Tom Tancredo said they would participate in the August straw poll and on Friday challenged Romney to a series of Iowa debates.

McCain and Giuliani said they still would compete in Iowa's caucuses, which begin the presidential nominating season. McCain was surprised to learn that no candidate has won the caucuses after skipping the straw poll.

``I didn't know that was the case,'' he said in an interview broadcast Sunday on ``This Week''

Huckabee's comments came on ``Late Edition'' on CNN.