Democratic White House hopeful Senator Barack Obama said he might visit Iraq after taking a barrage from Republican candidate Senator John McCain over his single previous trip to the war zone.
Obama, who opposed the war from the start, and accuses McCain of wanting to prolong “failed” US policies, told the New York Times on Wednesday that he was considering an overseas trip after securing the Democratic nomination.
“Iraq would obviously be at the top of the list of stops,” Obama told the paper, but declined McCain’s offer of a joint trip, saying he wanted no part of a “political stunt.”
McCain, an advocate of Bush’s troop surge strategy who has made multiple visits to US troops and commanders, said Obama’s possible visit to Iraq was “long overdue.”
“It’s been 871 days since he was there,” McCain told reporters during a campaign stop in Beverly Hills, California.
“I’m confident that when he goes he will then change his position on the conflict in Iraq, because he will see the success that has been achieved on the ground,” McCain said.
He lashed the first-term senator’s qualifications to be commander-in-chief, saying Obama had only gone to Iraq once just over two years ago.
“This is about leadership and learning,” the Republican said in Reno, Nevada.
McCain, who criticized early US post-war policy, hit out at Obama for failing to sit down in Iraq with US commander General David Petraeus, while offering talks with leaders of Iran.
And he took issue with Obama’s criticisms of his own trips to Iraq, which included one when he walked through a Baghdad market with a heavy US security detail, and the Democrat’s critique of the surge.
“That is a profound misunderstanding, a profound misunderstanding of what’s happened in Iraq, and what’s at stake in Iraq,” McCain said. “If we set a date for withdrawal, as Senator Obama wants to do, there will be chaos, there will be genocide, there will be increased Iranian influence there.”
Obama says on the campaign trail he would end the Iraq War next year, and accuses the Iraqi government of failing to take advantage of the US escalation to make political progress.
His spokesman Bill Burton led a counter-attack, saying: “It seems odd that Senator McCain, who bought the flawed rationale for war so readily, would be lecturing others on their depth of understanding about Iraq.”
“Senator Obama challenged the president’s rationale for the war from the start, warning that it would divert resources from Afghanistan and the pursuit of Al-Qaeda and mire us in an endless civil war,” he said.
“Senator McCain stubbornly insists on pursuing the failed Bush policy that continues to cost so much, while Senator Obama believes it’s time to begin a deliberate, careful strategy to remove our troops and compel the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future,” Burton said.
Meanwhile, Senator Hillary Clinton launched an 11th hour bid to deprive Obama of the nomination, five days before the final voting clashes.
Clinton wrote to nearly 800 top party officials or superdelegates to try to persuade them she was more likely to beat McCain.
“I believe I am best prepared to lead this country as president, and best prepared to put together a broad coalition of voters to break the lock Republicans have had on the electoral map,” she wrote.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese