If a picture is worth a thousand words, Barack Obama's overseas trip became a success on the very first day when he sank a three-pointer on a basketball court in Kuwait.
But as the Democratic standard bearer heads for Europe on Thursday after visits to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Jordan, he already has gotten even more from the trip, both visually and substantively.
an agreement to extend the legal basis for U.S. forces beyond this year, the White House is finding Iraq's price may be a more explicit definition of when the U.S. role should end.

Ssg. Lorie Jewell/US Army, via AP Senator Barack Obama with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American military commander in Iraq, in a helicopter above

Call it a timetable, phased withdrawal or (our - "joint aspirational time horizons." The Iraq debate has shifted to when - not if - on the subject of a troop pullout.
The big winner in this shift must be Sen. Barack Obama. His quickie Mideast tour put the presumptive Democratic nominee in sync with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who said he now favors a U.S. troop departure on roughly the same 16-month time frame that Obama suggests.
bama's visit to Afghanistan allowed him to repeat a pledge to upgrade U.S. military numbers there to face an ascendent terrorist threat.

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama declined Tuesday to rate the Bush administration's troop surge in Iraq a success despite a reduction in violence, and expressed understanding of Gen. David Petraeus' opposition to a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops.
"Not surprisingly he wants to retain as much flexibility as possible," Obama said of the general, with whom he met in recent days while touring Iraq.
n McCain. "By admitting that his plan for withdrawal places him at odds with Gen. David Petraeus, Barack Obama has made clear that his goal remains unconditional withdrawal rather than securing the victory our troops have earned," the aide said.

By VOA News US presidential candidate Barack Obama says his goal - should he become president - is to have U.S. troops no longer engaged in combat operations in Iraq.
The Democratic senator Tuesday told reporters in Jordan that while there has been security progress in Iraq, a political solution is now needed. He said Afghanistan is now the central front in the war on terror.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama - visited with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki in Baghdad on July 21, 2007. Obama is on a Middle East tour that includes Afghanistan,, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. (UPI Photo) ..
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, that this is not his role, that he can be the critic, but he's not the negotiator."

AP BAGHDAD: Senator Barack Obama began an on-the-ground inspection of Iraq on Monday - his first since opening his bid for the White House - with US