Analysts say that Obama's "constructive" talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials during his two-day visit may have only reinforced his pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months if he takes charge of the White House.

Before concluding his visit to Iraq and headed to Jordan, Obama met with U.S.-backed Sunni "Awakening" council leaders in the western Anbar province, a former hub of anti-U.S. rebellion following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

The Awakening councils were formed in the Sunni areas to combat al-Qaida fighters after they had apparently become a thorn in the side of the Sunni residents as well as the Americans.

Iraqi sources said the Illinois senator wanted to meet with these leaders to hear how their role had substantially contributed to subduing al-Qaida operations and to thank them personally for restoring significant stability in an area that had been riddled with violence in the first few years after the U.S.-led invasion of the country.

During his two-day visit to Iraq, Obama, who has for years opposed the war on Iraq and the U.S. George W. Bush administration's troop surge, appears to have amended his position regarding the troop surge, but refused to give the surge exclusive credit.

He told ABC News that he had not anticipated "the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni Awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided they had had enough with al-Qaida."

He added: "What you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops."

Obama's visit to Iraq, which followed another previously unannounced visit to Afghanistan, is part of a foreign tour that will also take him to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, as well as France, Britain and Germany.

He was in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a congressional delegation, but Obama is seeking to improve his image as a qualified potential commander-in-chief after coming under sharp criticism by his Republican antagonist, Senator John McCain, for supposedly having little military or foreign policy experience to lead the world's most powerful country.

While Arab commentators say that Obama's visit to the region was clearly part preparation for his race to the White House, many believe he is willing to listen to what the leaders in the region are saying, hoping that their arguments will be taken into consideration when he plans out his foreign policy should he win the race against McCain.

The Republican presidential contender is not expected to introduce much change to the current administration's Middle East foreign policy, which is highly unpopular in the Arab world.

Obama aides privately confirmed that he is more interested in listening than speaking. AFP quoted an unidentified senior Obama adviser as saying that he was "not here to make policy or negotiate, but to have a very useful exchange."

Iraqi sources told the Middle East Times that Obama listened to Maliki brief him on the growing domestic demands for a time frame that would ultimately end the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

A joint statement by Obama and accompanying senators Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said that Maliki told them the Iraqi people "do not want an open-ended presence of U.S. combat forces."

They added: "The prime minister said that now is an appropriate time to start to plan for the reorganization of our troops in Iraq – including their numbers and missions. He stated his hope that U.S. combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010."

This is a position that Obama shares with Maliki, having said he would like to shift military focus from Iraq to Afghanistan if he becomes president.

"My argument would be we need to have some sort of time frame because we have to start planning if we want to get an additional two brigades in Afghanistan, for example," Obama said. "We've got to start planning now."

He added the Iraqis "want an aspirational time line, with a clear date, for the redeployment."

Obama has said he would pull out more than 150,000 American troops from Iraq within 16 months, a position that seemed to have been boosted after the Iraqis have made it abundantly clear they want to regain their sovereignty and assume responsibility for their country without foreign occupation.