Obama camp accuses McCain of 'politicizing' troops while being uninformed on Iraq
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is charging that John McCain does not fully comprehend the situation in Iraq and would not be competent enough to be commander in chief, citing the presumptive GOP nominee's incorrect assessment of troop levels and several other gaffes regarding the conflict that has raged for the last five years.
At a town hall meeting in Wisconsin Thursday, McCain said the US troop presence has "drawn down to pre-surge levels." That is untrue; there are still about 20,000 more troops serving in Iraq than there were before President Bush began increasing deployments as part of the troop surge last year.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, an Obama supporter, called McCain's assertion "disturbing" and charged that the Republican presidential candidate "just doesn't know the facts here."
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), another Obama supporter, spoke with Doyle on a conference call organized by the campaign Friday. He questioned how McCain would be able to manage an already overextended military when he doesn't even know how many troops are deployed to begin with.
"It's very disturbing to have John McCain continually raise questions about what he knows and what he bases his judgments on," Kerry said. He went on to say the incident "raises very serious concerns about his comprehension of this challenge."
Kerry cited other McCain gaffes, such as when Joe Lieberman had to inform him that Iran was not training al Qaeda fighters, and when he insisted that security conditions had improved in Baghdad after a heavily guarded stroll through a market there.
The Obama surrogates panned McCain's invitation to Obama for a joint trip to Iraq as a "political stunt," and they sharply criticized McCain for distributing a fundraising appeal that displayed a picture of the candidate shaking hands with Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of US troops in Iraq.
"Republicans have grown very skilled at using our troops for props in political ads, but not providing a policy that is up to scale" with their needs, Kerry said.
While a joint McCain-Obama Iraq trip would be little more than a "media circus," Kerry did say Obama would be "well served" to consider visiting the war-torn country once he locks up the Democratic nomination.
Asked by RAW STORY if a protracted nomination battle would prevent such a trip, Kerry predicted that wouldn't be a problem.
"In my judgment," he said, "this nomination one way or the other will be decided over the next 10 [to] 12 days."
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