Iraq, back at the forefront

John McCain and Barack Obama have locked horns over the economy in the past few days, but today, following McCain's interview this morning on the "Today" show, the presidential campaign returns to a familiar battlefield: Iraq.

Here's the relevant passage:

Matt Lauer, NBC: "If it's working Senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?"

McCain: "No, but that's not too important. What's important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea, Americans are in Japan, American troops are in Germany. That's all fine. American casualties and the ability to withdraw; we will be able to withdraw. General Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key to it is we don't want any more Americans in harm's way. And that way, they will be safe, and serve our country, and come home with honor and victory, not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama's proposal would have done."

McCain's "not too important" comment prompted a swift conference call from the Obama campaign, on which Senator John Kerry, Obama's attack dog on national security, called McCain's remarks "unbelievably out of touch and inconsistent with the needs of Americans and particularly the families of troops who are over there."

"To them it's the most important thing in the world when they come home," Kerry said, according to The Politico. "It's a policy for staying in Iraq."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds accused Obama's campaign of "embarking on a false attack on John McCain to hide their own candidate’s willingness to disregard facts on the ground in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs."

"John McCain was asked if he had a 'better estimate' for a timeline for withdrawal," Bounds said in a statement. "As John McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaign’s attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth."

UPDATE: The Democratic National Committee also jumped on McCain's remark, quickly launching a web video this afternoon reminding of the Arizona senator's original remarks, at a New Hampshire town hall meeting in January, about US troops staying in Iraq for 50 or 100 years in a peacekeeping role.

"Senator McCain is wrong," DNC chairman Howard Dean said in a statement. "One of the most important questions in this campaign is when and how Senator McCain would bring our troops home from Iraq. Senator McCain stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that the American people do not want our brave troops in Iraq for 100 years under any circumstances. They want a president who will end the war responsibly."