Obama: Troop surge may work

IRAQ | But it's not ultimate solution, candidate says

Obama spoke a day after his main Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, made similar comments.

Obama said, ''If we put 30,000 additional troops into Baghdad, it will quell some of the violence short term. I don't think there is any doubt about that.''

But that won't solve Iraq's critical political problems, he said.

''All of our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in Iraq,'' Obama told a VFW convention in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, called Iraq's problems difficult but fixable, arguing for more time for his diplomacy and operations by the bolstered American military force. AP