Iraqis search for signs of change in U.S. election

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqis are avidly watching the 2008 U.S. election race, searching for signs of policy change under a new president and prospects for U.S. troop withdrawals from their country.

"I do not care if the president is a man or a woman, what really matters is the change of American policy towards Iraq," said Muhenad Sahib, a university professor from the southern oil hub of Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, rivals for the Democratic nomination, have squared off over Iraq. Clinton voted to authorise the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein but has since urged Congress to revoke approval. Obama opposed the war from the outset.

Both have vowed to start bringing troops home in 2009 if elected, while Republican candidate John McCain has supported President George W. Bush's 30,000-strong troop build-up which has been partially credited for sharply falling levels of violence across Iraq.

Athil al-Nujaifi, a member of a secular, multi-ethnic political bloc in the volatile northern city of Mosul, said a Democrat victory would offer the United States "a new future".

"The current situation in Iraq is tied to President Bush and his inability to admit his mistake in occupying Iraq and his inability to avoid the mistakes the neo-conservatives committed," Nujaifi said.

Mohammed Shaker, a member of Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, in Mosul, thought the Democrats would win but disagreed with Nujaifi, saying he did not expect U.S. policy to change regardless of the outcome of the election.

But he hoped U.S. troops might withdraw anyway because of improving security.