McCain hits Obama on Iraq, outlines Afghanistan plan

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain slammed his Democratic counterpart Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday for coming up with an Iraq policy without having observed the situation on the ground.

“I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to Gen. Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time,” McCain said, referencing the Illinois Democrat’s speech on national security earlier in the day. “In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: first you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy.”

{mosads}The Arizona Republican noted that he and Obama both agreed with President Bush at the start of the Iraq war but added that Obama was wrong in opposing the troop surge.

“Because of its success, the next president will inherit a situation in Iraq in which America’s enemies are on the run, and our soldiers are beginning to come home,” McCain said.

The GOP standard-bearer also discussed his plans for Afghanistan, where, he said, “the status quo is not acceptable” and security has “deteriorated.”

“Sen. Obama will tell you we can’t win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq,” McCain claimed, adding, “With the right strategy and the right forces, we can succeed in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I know how to win wars. And if I’m elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory.”

McCain criticized the way the Afghanistan campaign is being conducted and vowed to send additional troops.

“One of the reasons there is no comprehensive campaign plan for Afghanistan is because we have violated one of the cardinal rules of any military operation: unity of command,” McCain stated in New Mexico. “Today there are no less than three different American military combatant commands operating in Afghanistan, as well as NATO, some of whose members have national restrictions on where their troops can go and what they can do. This is no way to run a war.”

The Arizona senator touted the Afghan army as a “great success story” and said it needs to be expanded. He added that the global community should share the cost of doubling the size of the Afghan army.

McCain also stressed that he would focus on making sure that Pakistan does not provide a safe haven for terrorists.

“We must convince Pakistanis that this is their war as much as it is ours. And we must empower the new civilian government of Pakistan to defeat radicalism with greater support for development, health and education,” McCain said.

“Sen. Obama has spoken in public about taking unilateral military action in Pakistan. In trying to sound tough, he has made it harder for the people whose support we most need to provide it,” he added. “I will not bluster, and I will not make idle threats. But understand this: When I am commander in chief, there will be nowhere the terrorists can run, and nowhere they can hide.”