McCain slams Obama for not having visited Iraq since 2006

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together. "Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the Republican nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence. "He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly." McCain, a Navy veteran and Vietnam prisoner of war, frequently argues that he is the most qualified candidate to be a wartime commander in chief. In recent weeks, he has sought to portray Obama, a first-term senator, as naive on foreign policy and not as qualified to lead the military.