Obama Meets Maliki, Says 'History Will Judge' Iraq Invasion

U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that "history will judge" the decision by his predecessor president George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003.

As an Illinois state senator, Obama had slammed the planned invasion as "a dumb war."

But asked Monday after White House talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki if he still believed that, Obama replied: "I think history will judge the original decision to go into Iraq."

"What's absolutely clear is as a consequence of the enormous sacrifices that have been made by American soldiers and civilians, American troops and civilians, as well as the courage of the Iraqi people, that what we have now achieved is an Iraq that is self-governing, that is inclusive, and that has enormous potential," Obama stressed.

"There is still going to be challenges and I think the prime minister is the first one to acknowledge those challenges," he added.

The two men were meeting at the White House as the last U.S. troops prepare to leave Iraq and head home marking the end of a nine-year war.

The two men were later to visit Arlington National Cemetery where many of the nearly 4,500 U.S. war dead lie buried.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis also died in a war, insurgency and sectarian violence.

Separately, Maliki differed with Obama's call for Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad to step down Monday, saying he had no right to call for another leader's ouster.

Obama attributed the differences on Syria to "tactical disagreements" with Maliki and said he understood that the Iraqi leader's position on the Syrian president was motivated out of a sincere concern for Iraqi interests.

"I know that people must get their freedom and their will and democracy and equal citizenship. We are with these rights ... because we have achieved that ourselves," Maliki said at a joint press conference with Obama.

"But I do not have the right to ask a president to abdicate. We cannot give ourselves this right," said Maliki, adding that he hoped Syrians would achieve their aspirations without affecting Iraqi security.

Obama said that both he and Maliki believed that "when the Syrian people are being killed or are unable to express themselves, that's a problem.

"There's no disagreement there," Obama said.

"I expressed to Prime Minister Maliki my recognition that given Syria is on Iraq's borders -- Iraq is in a tough neighborhood -- that we will consult closely with them as we move forward.

"Even if there are tactical disagreements between Iraq and the United States at this point in how to deal with Syria, I have absolutely no doubt that these decisions are being made based on what Prime Minister Maliki believes is best for Iraq, not based on considerations of what Iran would like to see."

Iraq said last week it would try to convince Syria to accept an Arab peace deal and the deployment of a team to monitor the political situation in the country.

But Iraq has close trade ties with Syria and has refused to enforce the sweeping sanctions against Damascus approved by the Arab League on November 27 over the Syrian government's deadly protest crackdown.