President Barack Obama called Iraq's election an important milestone on Sunday despite deadly violence, praising Iraqi security forces and repeating his end-2011 goal for removing all US troops from the country. Scores of mortar rounds, rockets and roadside bombs exploded near polling stations across Iraq, killing 38 people, in an apparent effort to scare voters participating in the election for Iraq's second full-term parliament since the 2003 US invasion. Obama praised millions of Iraqis for turning out to vote despite the attacks. As expected, there were some incidents of violence as al Qaeda in Iraq and other extremists tried to disrupt Iraq's progress by murdering innocent Iraqis who were exercising their democratic rights, Obama told reporters at the White House. But overall the level of security and the prevention of destabilizing attacks speak to the growing capability and professionalism of Iraqi security forces, which took the lead in providing protection at the polls, he added. Obama's emphasis on Iraqi security forces' success supports his argument that U.S. troops can leave the country on time, freeing the president to put his foreign policy focus more squarely on the war in Afghanistan.
