Obama, McCain Dispute Iraq

Senator Barack Obama: “This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe. George Bush and John McCain don’t have a strategy for success in Iraq — they have a strategy for staying in Iraq.”

Senator John McCain: “Senator Obama will tell you we can’t win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq. In fact, he has it exactly backwards. It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan. Senator Obama is departing soon on a trip abroad that will include a fact-finding mission to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he’s even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time. In my experience … fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: First you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy.”