RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Happy Fourth of July. I'm Renee Montagne.

ARI SHAPIRO, host:

And I'm Ari Shapiro.

Senator Barack Obama is clarifying his position on Iraq. He's campaigned on the platform that he'll withdraw U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office. Yesterday he told reporters he could refine that position after he visits the country this summer. Then in a second last-minute news conference he tired to clarify his position.

Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Illinois): Let me be as clear as I can be. I intend to end this war. My first day in office, I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war - responsibly, deliberately, but decisively.

SHAPIRO: That was Senator Barack Obama speaking in Fargo, North Dakota. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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