From the AP:

TYLER, Texas (AP) _ Republican presidential hopeful John McCain mocked Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday for he saying he would take action as president ‘’if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq.’’ ’’When you examine that statement, it’s pretty remarkable,’’ McCain told a crowd in Tyler, Texas. ’’I have some news. Al-Qaida is in Iraq. It’s called ‘al-Qaida in Iraq,’’’ McCain said, drawing laughter at Obama’s expense. McCain said he had not watched the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night but was told of Obama’s response when asked if as president he would reserve the right to send U.S. troops back into Iraq to quell an insurrection or civil war. Obama did not say whether he’d send troops but responded: ‘’As commander in chief, I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out for American interests. And if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad.’’

Charlotte Hays notes that Obama didn’t say, “If I thought that was going to happen, I wouldn’t pull out,” and argues that Obama essentially conceded he would re-invade if the withdrawal made things worse.

UPDATE: The Obama pushback.

I’ve got some news for John McCain, that is there was no such thing Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade.
“I’ve got some news for John McCain. I’ve got some news for John McCain. He took us into a war, along with George Bush that should have never been authorized, never been waged. They took their eye off the people who were responsible for 9/11 and that would be Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, that is stronger now than at any time since 2001. I’ve been paying attention John McCain!
“John McCain may like to say that he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell. But so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq that’s cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars and that I intend to bring to an end so that we can actually start going after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and in the hills of Pakistan, like we should have been doing in the first place. That’s the news John McCain!“I respect John McCain, but he’s tied to the politics of the past; we’re about the policies of the future. He’s the party of yesterday. We want to be the party of tomorrow. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.”

Right. Only under President Obama are we going to “actually start going after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and in the hills of Pakistan.”

Ask the flaming corpse of Abu Laith al-Libi in Mir Ali, Pakistan if we’ve started yet.

Also, I had missed this… Adam Gadahn, a.k.a. Azzam the American, al-Qaeda’s English-speaking propoganda guy, is missing. Our guys say we didn’t get him in the Predator strike, as far as they can tell.