Obama says will end "single-minded" focus on Iraq

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday a "single-minded" focus on Iraq was distracting the United States from other threats, and he promised to end the war and shift resources to fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Obama, embroiled in sharp debate with Republican White House rival John McCain over Iraq, said the lengthy commitment of combat troops there diminished U.S. security and standing in the world.

"By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe," Obama said in a speech designed to lay out his views on the war ahead of his planned trip to Afghanistan and Iraq soon.

"As president, I will make the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority that it should be," Obama said. "This is a war that we have to win."

The future of Iraq promises to be a central issue in the November election battle for the White House between McCain, a staunch advocate of the war, and Obama, an early opponent of the U.S. invasion.

Obama criticized McCain, an Arizona senator, and U.S. President George W. Bush for making Iraq the center of the battle against terrorism and said he would pursue a new national security strategy to rebuild foreign alliances and regain global goodwill destroyed by the war.

"I am running for president of the United States to lead this country in a new direction -- to seize this moment's promise," the first-term senator from Illinois said.