Team McCain e-mails “The Corner”:
Today, Senator Obama expressed concern about the strain Iraq has placed on our armed forces. In January 2007, he said, ‘I know nobody in Congress, Republican or Democrat, who is going to in any way strand troops who are presently in Iraq. We’ve got to make sure that they have all the resources necessary to come home safely and to execute the missions that have been laid out for them.’ Yet four months later, he voted to precipitously cut off ALL funds for troops in Iraq.
Today, Senator Obama admitted that ‘the level of violence in Iraq has been reduced.’ On January 10, 2007, Senator Obama said he did not believe deploying additional troops to Iraq would ‘make a significant dent in the sectarian violence.’ This is not the kind of judgment Americans expect from their commander in chief.
Today, Senator Obama renewed his call to withdraw from Iraq no matter the conditions on the ground, yet he proposes leaving enough forces in Iraq to ‘strike al Qaeda if it forms a base that the Iraqis cannot destroy.’ Perhaps Senator Obama should travel to Iraq so he can see first-hand that al Qaeda is very much a threat that Iraqis alone cannot currently address. That is why our brave men and women are fighting in places like Mosul today. To think we could withdraw on a politically-driven timetable and address the threat of al Qaeda in Iraq is the height of irresponsibility.
Today, Senator Obama says we need to prevail in Afghanistan but he never explains how defeat at the hands of al Qaeda in Iraq will make it easier to achieve success in Afghanistan. Obviously, defeat in Iraq will have grave consequences throughout the region and the world — including Afghanistan. Perhaps if Senator Obama had taken the time to conduct a Senate Foreign Relations Europe Subcommittee hearing — which he chairs — into NATO operations in Afghanistan, he would realize this.
Today, Senator Obama demonstrated once again that he has a lot to learn about national security, and John McCain looks forward to this debate should Senator Obama win his Party’s nomination.