McCain camp cranks up pressure

2008-07-03 13:16

Stephen Collinson

Washington - John McCain's campaign on Wednesday raised the stakes ahead of White House rival Barack Obama's expected trip to Iraq, saying the Democrat's plans for immediate troops withdrawals ignored security gains.

McCain ally and Republican lawmaker Eric Cantor told reporters that ebbing violence in Iraq since the start of the US troop surge policy last year had rendered Obama's policies obsolete.

"What sounded sensible, perhaps to some, a year ago, ... is disingenuous to the American people, and again, it ignores the realities on the ground," Cantor said on a McCain campaign conference call.

Cantor said Obama's policy of starting withdrawals immediately after becoming president, at the rate of one or two combat brigades a month, flew in the face of strategic reality.

"I don't think there is any question that Barack Obama should change his plan in Iraq," Cantor said.

Obama's opposition to the Iraq war, first stated in 2002 before the invasion, helped him win votes of fervently anti-war grass-roots Democrats in his nominating campaign triumph over Hillary Clinton.

'Failed foreign policy'

The Illinois senator is expected to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming weeks, though details have not yet been released for security reasons.

His campaign swiftly hit back at the McCain camp.

"Throughout this campaign, Barack Obama has been clear and consistent in saying that we need to responsibly end the war in Iraq so that we can restore our military strength, finish the fight in Afghanistan and focus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11," said spokesperson Tommy Vietor.

"John McCain should explain why he is offering nothing more than four more years of a failed foreign policy that has asked nothing of the Iraqi government, overstretched our military, failed to finish the job in Afghanistan, and failed to bring Osama bin Laden to justice for over six years."

Last week, Obama appeared to give himself more room for manoeuvre on Iraq policy, after spending months during the primary campaign vowing to end the war in 2009 if elected.

In his first joint public campaign event with Clinton in New Hampshire on Friday, Obama called for a "gradual, responsible withdrawal from Iraq", a formulation offering more latitude than the stated policy on his website which calls for all combat brigades to be pulled out of Iraq "within 16 months".

Obama's top strategist David Axelrod denied the senator's current positions on Iraq were inconsistent with the stance he has adopted throughout the campaign.

"He's always said that he would listen to the advice of commanders on the ground, and that that would factor into his thinking," Axelrod told CNN.

"He's also said we have to be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. So he's been very consistent on this point."

McCain maintains that immediate troop withdrawals would be irresponsible and squander hard-won gains during the surge.

Military commitment

In May, he laid out a timeline to bring most US combat troops home from Iraq by 2013 - or when he hopes to be starting his second term in the White House.

Democrats are arguing McCain is ready for an open-ended military commitment to Iraq.

The Republican has said he would be happy to see US troops stay on long-term in Iraq, but in a non-combat role similar to the US military presence in Germany and South Korea.

- AFP