Graham says Obama, McCain should visit Iraq together

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday suggested that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) should visit Iraq together ahead of the election.

{mosads}“I think it would be good for the country because the next president is going to have to deal with Iraq,” Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Graham is one of McCain’s staunchest supporters in the Senate and an early backer of his presidential bid. Noting that Obama has not visited Iraq since 2006, Graham argued that a visit to the country might change the Illinois senator’s opinions.

“So much has happened since 2006 on the ground. It’s been extraordinary,” Graham said, adding, “I think if he would look at what’s happened in Iraq, talk to General [David] Petraeus and [Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki], I think he would have a different view of what you need to do next.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), an important Obama ally, said in response to the proposal that he is “not going to suggest what Senator Obama's schedule or Senator McCain's schedule is going to be in the remaining few months before the November election.”