McCain renews attack on Obama over surge

Says rival wrong on Iraq strategy

Senator John McCain of Arizona spoke yesterday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Orlando, Fla. (Matt Stroshane/Getty Images)

John McCain declared yesterday that he was right - and Democrat Barack Obama was wrong - about the correct strategy for victory in Iraq, and that he was ahead of the curve on Russia's incursion into Georgia as well.

Speaking to Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, Fla., McCain renewed his attack on Obama for opposing the troop surge last year in Iraq, asserting that Obama changed his position as his political ambitions grew and has refused to admit he erred.

"With less than three months to go before the election, a lot of people are still trying to square Senator Obama's varying positions on the surge in Iraq. First, he opposed the surge and confidently predicted that it would fail. Then he tried to prevent funding for the troops who carried out the surge. Not content to merely predict failure in Iraq, my opponent tried to legislate failure," McCain said.

"In short, both candidates in this election pledge to end this war and bring our troops home," McCain added. "The great difference - the great difference - is that I intend to win it first."

Obama, who plans to address the VFW today, has acknowledged that the surge reduced violence in Iraq, but says it has failed to lead to a political solution. He wants to withdraw US combat forces within 16 months; McCain opposes any timetable for withdrawal. Iraqi leaders have been pressing for a timetable for withdrawal.

"It is hard to understand how Senator McCain can at once proclaim his support for the sovereign government of Iraq, and then stubbornly defy their expressed support for a timeline to remove our combat brigades from their country," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

On Russia, McCain said he showed the judgment needed in the next president by warning about its expansionist ambitions. He continued his hard line against Russia, warning of consequences if it does not pull back and vowing US support for other former Soviet republics.

"The Cold War is over, the Soviet empire is gone, and neither one is missed. Least of all is that empire missed by the once captive nations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and Georgia," McCain said. "These brave young democracies have joined the free world, and they are not going back."

Later yesterday in Cocoa Beach, McCain bashed Obama for his initial plan, since abandoned, to pay for part of his $18 billion education program by delaying NASA's program to go to the moon and later to Mars. Obama has since taken that cut off the table.

"Sometimes it's difficult to know what a politician will actually do once in office because they say different things, at different times, to different people," McCain said. "This is a particular problem when a candidate has a short, thin record on the issue, as is the case of Senator Obama."

McCain pledged to oppose cuts to NASA, saying they would represent "a shortsighted approach that fails to recognize the benefits of space exploration and the technology and economic advantages that result from the space program."