Rep. Wilson Slams Obama as Inexperienced, Says McCain Would Be Open to Early Pullout

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) questioned Barack Obama’s foreign policy judgment and experience Tuesday in response to the Democrat’s renewed call for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

“First, to the extent that Sen. Obama indicated today that his 16-month timetable is also conditional on success and the conditions on the ground, then he’s adopting Sen. [John] McCain’s position and we should all welcome that. But we should also recognize we never would have gotten here had we followed [Obama’s] leadership,” said Wilson on a conference call organized by the McCain campaign.

She added that Obama, who has touted support for a timetable from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government, has failed to listen to Maliki’s entire position on a U.S. troop pullout. McCain’s campaign has noted that Iraqi leaders have also tied a withdrawal to conditions on the ground.

“[Obama’s] hearing what he wanted to hear and what he thought would help him politically, which gets back to the problem with Sen. Obama as a candidate for the presidency,” Wilson said. “He has his finger in the wind, trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing, and he is not leading, and he’s in no way sophisticated enough, I don’t think — I mean, he’s frighteningly inexperienced when it comes to international affairs and national security policy.”

Wilson also said Tuesday that McCain would support troops withdrawing from Iraq earlier than Obama’s plan “if the conditions allowed it.”

“Sen. Obama has said it’s a 16-month timeline no matter what,” Wilson said. “I think is important to remember is that [Obama] is being driven by the calendar and not by the conditions on the ground. It’s interesting that, as we’ve been successful in Iraq in eradicating al Qaeda in Iraq and calming the violence, it’s become possible to look at reduced force levels.”

“John McCain has always said, against the opinion of public opinion and also, in some cases, against the opinion of his own president of his own party, that we need to be successful, irrespective of the calendar, and he’d like troops to come home earlier than 16 months, if the conditions allow it.”