Obama aide: Military advisers to meet on first day

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
On his first full day as president, Barack Obama will meet with high-ranking military officers to discuss the Iraq war and other issues, a top adviser to Obama said Saturday. Wednesday's meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military commanders and aides will fulfill a key campaign promise and bring the Iraq war back to the political forefront after months of being overshadowed by the economy. In the early stages of his two-year presidential campaign, Obama vowed to wind down the war, a stance that helped him overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. In the past year or so, however, Iraq lost prominence in the national debate, and Obama gave himself some slight wiggle room on the pace of withdrawing troops. He also stressed the need to pump more US military power into Afghanistan.