Three weeks after John McCain began taunting Barack Obama about not having visited Iraq for more than two years, Obama announced Monday he’s planning a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I’m interested in visiting Iraq and Afghanistan before the election,” Obama said after speaking by phone with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. “I told him that I look forward to seeing him in Baghdad.”
The announcement came three weeks after McCain offered to “educate” Obama by accompanying him to Iraq, which the freshman senator from Illinois has visited only once — in January 2006. McCain has visited Iraq eight times since 2003, most recently in March.
McCain’s challenge was immediately echoed by the Republican National Committee, which began issuing daily reminders to reporters of how many days it has been since Obama visited Iraq.
McCain said Monday that Obama “is closing in on his 900th day since he visited Iraq.” The senior senator from Arizona emphasized that Obama visited Iraq a full year before President Bush announced a surge of additional troops, which has dramatically reduced violence.
“When we implemented the surge, Senator Obama said it was doomed to failure, it could not succeed, that we had to set a date for withdrawal, and he still does not acknowledge the fact that we are winning in Iraq,” McCain told reporters. “That’s why I urge him to go and visit as soon as possible.”
Asked for the specific date of his planned Iraq visit, Obama said, “You know, we’ll make an announcement about that.”
McCain senior adviser Carly Fiorina took a measure of satisfaction from Obama’s decision to visit Iraq.
“It’s a very good thing that Barack Obama has decided that he will visit the reality on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Fiorina said in response to questions from The Examiner. “Hopefully, he will be moved by the facts on the ground.”
Although some analysts have called Iraq a losing issue for Republicans, McCain made clear he wants the argument front and center in the presidential campaign.
“The whole debate in this campaign should be about whether we’re going to allow that surge to continue to succeed or we are again going to do what Senator Obama wanted to do, and that is to set a date for withdrawal,” he said.
