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Dubuque: Illinois Senator Barack Obama said at a campaign stop in Iowa the US will have to withdraw its troops from Iraq, regardless of the costs, if serious reforms are not made by the Iraqi government.
"In the absence of those conditions we're just throwing money away," Obama said on Saturday in Dubuque.
"We have to be honest that, in the absence of these changes, if these changes aren't made, there is not much we can do" to help the Iraqi people, he added.
An estimated 2,300 people attended a town hall meeting to hear Obama on the first of two days of campaigning in Iowa that was to include stops in five eastern Iowa cities. He later attended a rally at a high school in Davenport, where 4,000 people showed up to hear him speak. The Iowa caucuses in January begin the process of selecting delegates to the party's national presidential nominating convention.
War critic
Aides said Iraq would be the focus of the trip, and members of the audience were given copies of a speech Obama gave opposing the war in 2002, when he was still a state senator.
"It's time to end this war and bring our troops home," Obama said on Saturday, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd in the Loras College Field House.
He said there are no good options left in Iraq.
"We only have bad options and worse options," he said.
Obama also called for reform on funding for veterans, saying the country is not doing enough to support troops returning from Iraq.
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