Obama to Exit Iraq, Close Gitmo

"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," Obama said. (Reuters)

"As soon as I take office, I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security apparatus, and we will start executing a plan that draws down our troops from Iraq," Obama told the CBS's "60 Minutes" program.

"Particularly in light of the problems that we're having in Afghanistan, which has continued to worsen. We've got to shore up those efforts."

During his presidential campaign, Obama vowed to pull the 150,000 US forces from Iraq within 16 months.

He pledged to move some of the troops to Afghanistan to stabilize the violence-wracked nation.

"I've said during the campaign, and I've stuck to this commitment," Obama said in his first interview since defeating Republican rival John McCain in the November 4 vote.

America's first-ever black president will be inaugurated on January 20.

The Iraqi government voted on Sunday, November 16, to approve a wide-ranging military agreement that governs the presence of US troops in the country until 2011.

Under the deal, US troops should withdraw from all Iraqi cities by June 2009 and pull out entirely from the country by the end of 2011.

Moral Stature

Obama pledged to shut down the notorious Guantanamo camp to help restore America's moral stature.

"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," he said.

"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture.

"Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world."

The US image has plummeted deeply across the world, even among allies, with foreign policy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan topping a long list of disappointing factors.

Obama said the current economic crisis would top priorities of his new administration.

He said his first legislative priority was getting another stimulus package passed to prop up the enfeebled economy.

"I think it's a top priority. I think that we have to restore a sense of trust, transparency, openness in our financial system," said Obama.

"And keep in mind that the deregulation process, it wasn't just one party. I think there's a lot of blame to spread around.

A financial firestorm swept the US in September after the collapse and financial woes of a number of Wall Street giants.

The crisis has since knocked down markets worldwide.

"Hopefully, everybody's learned their lesson. And the answer is not heavy-handed regulations that crush the entrepreneurial spirit and risk taking of American capitalism. That's what's made our economy great. But it is to restore a sense of balance."