Barack Obama, the Democratic contender for the US presidency, is set to say Washington's foreign policy focus on Iraq is obscuring other issues abroad.

In a keynote speech, Senator Obama is expected to argue that the open-ended war there is diminishing US security.

Mr Obama is also expected to give more details of his plans for a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

His Republican rival in November's poll, John McCain, says events on the ground must govern any Iraq pullout.

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The dates of the trip have not been disclosed for security reasons.

'Unacceptable'

In the speech to be delivered later on Tuesday, Mr Obama is due to argue that a "single-minded" focus on Iraq is distracting the US and jeopardising its security.

"This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century," he will say, according to extracts published in advance.

"By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe."

Mr Obama will say that his priorities in the White House would be to concentrate on finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

Mr Obama is expected to set out in more detail his plans for a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, a process he will say that will allow much needed reinforcements to be sent to Afghanistan.

"It is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large," he is expected to say.

"Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahari are recording messages to their followers and plotting more terror. The Taliban controls parts of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia."

"And yet today, we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan."

Timetable for withdrawal

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the war over the war in Iraq is moving into high gear.

The essential difference between Mr Obama and his Republican rival, John McCain, is that the Illinois senator wants to set a clear timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq - some 16 months - while Mr McCain insists that the situation on the ground, not timetables, must govern the pace of any withdrawal, our correspondent says.

It is not just a political argument, he adds - it has a huge bearing on the signals that the next US president will send to the Middle East and at root it is a test of their capacity to be Commander-in-Chief.

Opinion polls suggest that Americans remain deeply divided on the best strategy in Iraq, with almost equal proportions opting for a clear timetable or for no timetable for a withdrawal.

Mr Obama may not necessarily need to win this argument outright, our correspondent says, but in setting out his foreign policy stall he needs to show that he has credible, concrete positions that make sense of a complex world.

(BBC)

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