DETROIT, June 16 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday he plans to visit Iraq and Afghanistan before November's election and was encouraged by a recent reduction in violence in Iraq.Obama, who later picked up the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore at a Detroit rally on Monday night, spoke by telephone with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari and reiterated his support for a pullout of U.S. troops.
"I told him that I looked forward to seeing him in Baghdad," Obama said in Flint, Michigan, an important state in the November election against Republican John McCain. "I emphasized to him how encouraged I was by the reductions in violence in Iraq but also insisted that it is important for us to begin the process of withdrawing U.S. troops, making it clear that we have no interest in permanent bases in Iraq," he said.
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Obama spoke to Zebari one day after the Iraqi official met McCain in Washington. The Arizona senator has made foreign policy and national security a campaign focus and criticizes Obama as too inexperienced to run the country.
McCain, who strongly backed the buildup of U.S. troops ordered by U.S. President George W. Bush in Iraq, on Monday questioned Obama's judgment on Iraq. "He was wrong when he said the surge would not succeed, he was wrong when he said that we were failing in Iraq as a result of it and he is wrong today," McCain said at his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
McCain said he hoped Obama would meet with the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus. "I ask him to request a meeting with General Petraeus and sit down and get his assessment of the military situation," McCain said. "I don't know how you can draw conclusions such as Senator Obama has without even sitting down and talking directly to our commander on the ground."
Obama says he would begin a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq shortly after taking office. His plan calls for the removal of one or two brigades a month, which would allow a pullout of combat troops to be completed within 16 months.
The first-term Illinois senator said he told Zebari that if he wins the White House, "an Obama administration will make sure that we continue with the progress that's been made in Iraq, that we won't act precipitously."
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McCain economic adviser Carly Fiorina said Obama's trip to Iraq was "a very good thing" and could force him to adjust his views.