Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.
"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.
"He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."
15 comments on Why Won't Obama Go To Iraq?
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Actually McCain played a very crafty political gambit on this one. He challenged O'Bama to a duel that he can't possibly win. He can't even acknowledge that he's been challenged because acknowledgement is of itself a surrender to the challenger.
What's worse for O'Bama is that since he has not taken up this challenge McCain will be able to beat him over the head with it right up to election day. O'Bama chairs a committee of some sort that is supposed to oversee our Middle east conflict and has yet to lift a damn finger in that direction! He should be beaten to oblivion for that kind of negligence!
Funny, is he really trying to seem like the better candidate for the troops?! First his chief financial advisor help craft the subprime crisis, which according to bloomburg has affected the military vets as high as 217%. Unprecedented.
Secondly, the GOP has allowed the numbers of PTSD to soar, and (flashback), HERE is why. They were told not to diagnose it.
Maybe they can cover it with the Pentagon's propaganda unit. But McCain could go to Iraq 50 times between now and then, and still the GOP wouldn't seem like the team for the troops...
If Obama wants to be the President, he should at least visit a country that we are at war.
If Obama wants to pull the troops out, why not go over there and look it over. Talk to the troops and the leaders. Instead of planning the whole thing from DC.
I totally agree!
You may want to take a look at how the military votes... its GOP. The dems scares the hell out of us.
Now that makes sense something that Obama doesn't do.
Last I looked, the candidate that received the highest financial support, was republican libertarian Ron Paul, and the anti-war candidates..
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/05/army_militarydonors_050408w/
"From January 2007 through March of this year, service members or civilian employees of the military donated at least $766,000 to presidential candidates, according to data made available April 20 and provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group in Washington.
The analysis included donations of at least $200 made by individuals who listed their employer as one of the four branches of the military — Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — or the Coast Guard, National Guard, Army Air Force Exchange Service, armed forces or military.
These donors gave the largest amounts to Rep. Ron Paul, the long-shot Republican candidate from Texas who has acknowledged defeat in the nomination process but continues to campaign, and Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat from Illinois.
During the reporting period, Paul — a former Air Force surgeon who broke with his party to vote against the Iraq war — received the most military contributions, with $201,271.
That’s significantly more than the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain from Arizona, who received $132,133 from military donors, according to CRP."
..
Umm.. technically, like our involvement in Vietnam, this is no longer "war". This is an act of occupation propagated upon faulty intelligence (did we ever find those WMDs?) from foreign agents with a shady history by a chief executive with a brain the size of penguin and a cabinet full of corrupt power brokers. If you can't see the connections between this and Iraq and Vietnam in general, then someone needs to check the size of your brain. I'm just surprised that no one has found a Watergate to turn W. into Nixon. Perhaps it's all for the better. Getting back to the point of why Obama hasn't gone back to Iraq in so long a time, is there at least the slightest possibility that he has some clarity on the situation and isn't looking at it through the rose-colored glasses that partisan politicos tend to? You tell me. Maybe he is just totally chickenshit. But I'll tell you one more thing. It's a hell of a lot easier to run a country alive than dead.
First, what scares me is that we didn't find WMDs. The world's intell was telling us they had them, Sadam was telling the world they had them, his troops used them against his own people and the Iranians. So my guess is they are still in Iraq.
Second, I can tell that you don't like the President but name calling is a little on the childish side. So if you have facts to share please do.
Third, was the whole point of my question. I wanted to hear thoughts on why he has gone.
That is what they say.
everyone said he had them, except for the weapons inspectors on the ground like scott ritter for one. Used them against the Kurds, yea, when Rummy was appointed by reagan and sent there, shook saddams hand, gave them access to those weapons (which they used, and of course the republicans didn't care then, they were making money off the death, like now) and assisted in targeting, they had them, then they got rid of them, as they were santioned to do.
I wish I had your faith. Strange they simply got rid of them and we have army depots full of them some going back to WWII.
Bruce-methinks that sometime this year, no matter what the "media" says, the fact that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction will surface somehow, and be an irrefutable fact. Somebody, somewhere, will find proof, and it will be somebody nobody can shut up. Blessings, Carol
O'Bama will dodge all controversy no matter what. Carol
Carol,
After the fall of Sadam there were interviews with a number of his former officers. One from the army said he was expecting a release order that never came. The fact that his unit was issued Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical suits has always caused me concern. Then later there was an interview with one of his senior air force officers who claimed they flew a number of missions into Syria and off loaded undisclosed cargo. Finally the fact that he buried aircraft to protect them from air attack is still yet another unreported issue in the main stream media.
I agree he will dodge any issue he can. For gigles go to http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm and review his voting record it is clearly amzing how often he sits on the fense. What a leader:(