Obama camp hits McCain on Afghanistan
Posted: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:41 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Security
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
This morning, the
Obama campaign held a conference call arguing that
McCain has shifted his position on sending additional troops to Afghanistan, which has seen a resurgence of the Taliban and increased US casualties.
After months of saying additional troops were not needed in Afghanistan, McCain changed position Tuesday and called for an additional three brigades -- or roughly 15,000 troops -- to be sent to the country. It was unclear if those troops would be redeployed from Iraq or come from NATO forces.
VIDEO: In the Hardball Big Number, Chris Matthews talks about the 22 times Barack Obama mentioned Afghanistan in his "major address" on foreign policy.
Obama adviser Susan Rice said McCain was out of touch and divorced from reality when it came to dealing with Iraq and Afghanistan, calling the Arizona senator's speech yesterday "surreal" and arguing that he has "no credible plan for either conflict and it's resolution."
"He says he wants to surge in Afghanistan without reducing our presence in Iraq, which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has repeatedly said is impossible," she said. "And he wants to balance our budget by 2013, in part on the basis of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq which he opposes."
Obama communications strategist Robert Gibbs suggested McCain's stance on troops in Afghanistan had changed several times over the course of Tuesday -- and could change again in short order.
The goal of the call appeared to be to raise questions about John McCain's ability to lead on national security issues, an area where polls show voters favor the Republican.
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds sent this email in response to the Obama conference call: “By committing to a policy for the war in Afghanistan before he visits the country and meets with our commanders for the first time, before he holds a single oversight hearing and after he voted against war-funding for the troops serving there -- Barack Obama has shown he views foreign policy through a lens of ideology rather than through looking at facts. Americans are tired of that brand of leadership, and are ready for a leader that will be prepared and put country first.”
