“In no way do I favour the occupation of my country,” said Abu Ibrahim, a Western-educated businessman in Baghdad, “but there is a moral obligation on the Americans at this point.”

Like many Iraqis, Ibrahim sees Obama favorably, describing him as “much more humane than Bush or McCain”. “He seems like a nice guy,” Ibrahim said. But he hoped that Obama’s statements about a relatively fast pullout were mere campaign talk. “It’s a very big assumption that just because he wants to pull troops out, he’ll be able to do it,” he said. “The American strategy in the region requires troops to remain in Iraq for a long time.”

It is not certain exactly when Obama will arrive here or whom he will meet. Such official trips are always shrouded in secrecy for security reasons. But as word spread of the impending visit — Obama’s first as the presumed Democratic nominee for President — there were fresh reminders of the country’s vulnerability. In the past two days, around 70 Iraqis were killed in suicide bomb attacks, despite recent gains in safety that Obama uses as one argument for withdrawal.

And despite those improvements, street interviews remain risky in Iraq. For this article, 18 people were interviewed about their opinions of Obama, in Baghdad, in the northern city of Mosul, in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, and in the Sunni suburb of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad.