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Barack Obama, shown here speaking at a volunteer event in Philadelphia Wednesday, seems to be at odds with an adviser who reportedly recommends keeping up to 80,000 troops in Iraq by the end of 2010. (AP Photo)

As Barack Obama continues to criticize John McCain for saying he’s willing to keep a 100-year troop presence in Iraq, another Obama adviser has suggested U.S. forces could stay in Iraq longer than the Democratic candidate initially thought.

Adviser Colin Kahl wrote in a policy paper for the Center for a New American Security that the United States should transition to an “over-watch” force of between 60,000 and 80,000 troops by the end of 2010, according to an article Friday in the New York Sun.

That appears to be at odds with Obama’s public position of removing all combat brigades from the country within 16 months of taking office.

Kahl told the Sun his plan would still keep the U.S. “out of the lead” and mainly in a “support role.” He said the plan had nothing to do with the campaign.

The Obama campaign said in a statement: “The writing of Mr. Kahl, one of hundreds of outside advisers to the campaign, is not representative of Barack Obama’s consistent policy position on the Iraq war.”

But Kahl’s plan seems to jibe with other advisers’ statements that Obama’s withdrawal timetables are more a goal than a firm policy commitment.

Foreign policy adviser Susan Rice, for instance, told reporters in February that Obama’s plan to end the war in 2009 is not absolute, and that he reserves the right to revisit troop levels in Iraq upon taking the oath of office.

Former foreign policy adviser Samantha Power told the BBC that Obama’s 16-month plan is a “best-scenario” and that the reality is he will try to withdraw troops “as quickly and responsibly as possible.”

Power was the adviser who resigned in early March after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster” in an interview with a Scottish newspaper, but Clinton also tried to paint Obama an inconsistent for Power’s statements on Iraq.

Obama later affirmed that he would bring the war “to an end in 2009.”

Both Clinton and Obama have talked about keeping some U.S. presence in Iraq after withdrawing the bulk of American troops, but it’s unclear how broad that presence would be. Obama’s Web site states that “some troops” would stay in Iraq to protect U.S. embassies and diplomats and carry out targeted strikes on Al Qaeda if the organization tries to keep a base in Iraq after U.S. withdrawal.

Obama talked about keeping a “strike force” in the region Monday. That drew questions from McCain who asked, “Where are they based? What do they do? Now I’m intrigued. He has said he will pull out all troops before. How do you reconcile those two?”

Obama and McCain were in a war of words earlier this week over Iraq. Obama accused McCain of wanting to wage a 100-year war.

That claim is originally based on McCain’s statement at a New Hampshire town hall meeting in January that he would be “fine” with staying in Iraq up to 100 years, “as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or killed.”

McCain later explained that he meant American troops could keep a presence, much like they did in countries like Japan and Germany, and his campaign vigorously accused Obama of distorting his remarks.

Obama’s not the only candidate whose public statements on Iraq have been in conflict with those of his confidants.

The Sun reported in a separate article in early March that retired Gen. Jack Keane believes Clinton would hold off on an immediate troop withdrawal in Iraq. Keane, the Sun reported, was close with Clinton and declined an offer to join her campaign as an adviser. But the Clinton campaign told the Sun at the time that Keane’s statements don’t change her commitment to begin withdrawing troops within 60 days of taking office — that is the position on Iraq Clinton still has on her Web site.

Click here to read the story in the New York Sun.

FOX News’ Major Garrett and Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Top Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.