Skirmishing continues on war policy

The presidential campaigns are continuing today to wage a war of words over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain dispatched top surrogates -- Senator Joe Biden of Delaware for Obama and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut for McCain -- to the morning news shows to press their cases. Biden argued that the central front on the war on terror is Afghanistan and the tribal borderlands of Pakistan -- not Iraq -- while Lieberman emphasized the importance of success in Iraq, and replicating that in Afghanistan.

Following up on speeches by both on Tuesday, the candidates' campaigns criticized each other. Obama's said McCain would continue a failed policy in Iraq and has a muddled policy on Afghanistan and where the thousands of additional troops he wants to send would come from.

McCain "has no credible plans for either conflict or their resolution,” Susan Rice, a top adviser, told reporters on a conference call.

"Yesterday, we saw a real difference in the national security priorities that Senators Obama and McCain would pursue as President," his campaign said in a statement. "Barack Obama’s judgment has led him to repeatedly call for the United States to focus on defeating our enemies in Afghanistan, rather than continuing to tie up our resources and military might in an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq that hasn’t made us safer.

"By contrast, John McCain’s priority is continuing George Bush’s war in Iraq indefinitely—at the expense of our efforts in Afghanistan and real security. And as he tried to turn his attention to Afghanistan yesterday – a conflict he once said we may “muddle through” – it became painfully clear that he had no plan to win the war there, offering no less than three different explanations for how he would increase our troop presence in a matter of hours."

McCain's campaign hammered Obama for removed criticism of the troop surge in Iraq -- championed by McCain, initially opposed by Obama, and credited for dramatically reducing violence -- from his campaign website, part of what Obama's campaign called an effort to update his written war plan to reflect changing conditions.

McCain's camp also continued to bash Obama for detailing his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before visiting the two countries -- Iraq for the first time since January 2006 and Afghanistan for the first time ever -- and talking to commanders on the ground and for not holding any oversight hearings on NATO's role in Afghanistan as a subcommittee chairman.

“By committing to a policy for the war in Afghanistan before he visits the country and meets with our commanders for the first time, before he holds a single oversight hearing and after he voted against war-funding for the troops serving there – Barack Obama has shown he views foreign policy through a lens of ideology rather than through looking at facts," spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "Americans are tired of that brand of leadership, and are ready for a leader that will be prepared and put country first.”

UPDATE: McCain's campaign this afternoon also released a letter from 10 retired admirals and generals endorsing him.

"It is our experience as former senior military officers that also gives us great concern about certain foreign policy positions staked out by Senator Obama," the letter says. "We are acutely aware that ill-conceived policies will have serious, if not tragic, consequences for military commanders, the troops they lead, and the nation. We are particularly concerned about his public statements, including his call for a withdrawal from Iraq, unconditional talks with the leaders of rogue states, and the return to a law-enforcement approach to protecting our country from terrorists.

"This country has learned the peril of treating terrorists and their state sponsors as little more than a law enforcement problem. We are unanimous in our view that the failures of the past should not be repeated, and we believe that John McCain's long record of national service, and his demonstrated judgment on matters of national security, make clear who can best defend this country abroad, and assure peace and prosperity at home," the letter continues. "Through a lifetime of service in uniform and in Congress, John McCain has consistently displayed the wisdom and courage to do the right thing for America regardless of the cost to him personally. It is for this reason, above all others, that we endorse John McCain for President, and it is for this reason that we stand with him now as he continues his long history of service to this country."