McCain hammers Obama

Washington - Republican John McCain on Thursday portrayed his possible Democratic presidential election rival Barack Obama as a national security novice who was dishonestly misrepresenting him on Iraq.

Intensifying his assault, McCain questioned Obama's plan to leave a "strike force" of US troops in the Middle East after an eventual withdrawal from Iraq, and accused him of being "disingenuous" about his own Iraq stance.

Obama's policy

Obama, who has pledged to end the war in Iraq in 2009 if he was elected, said this week that he would leave enough troops in the country to defend the US embassy, along with a strike force in the region to hobble Al-Qaeda.

"I think somebody ought to ask what in the world he's talking about, especially since he has no experience or background at all in national security affairs," McCain said in an MSNBC interview.

McCain also hit out at Obama for claiming McCain wanted to wage a 100-year war in Iraq, saying he was deliberately taking his remarks about a South Korea or Japan-style multi-generational peacekeeping presence out of context.

Obama "dishonest" and "disingenious"

"Senator Obama is being disingenuous, because he knows better."

In a Fox News interview, McCain said Obama was being "dishonest."

"No one could have interpreted that exchange as me saying that we are going to be in a war for 100 years. And so for Senator Obama to interpret (it) that way is obviously wilful distortion."

Obama spoke out against going to war in Iraq before he was in the Senate but Clinton voted in 2002 to authorise the invasion.

- AFP