McCain hits Obama over Georgia remark

John McCain's campaign, seeking to return attention to foreign policy, assailed Democratic rival Barack Obama today over a comment he made Thursday in Virginia criticizing Russia's invasion of Georgia.

McCain's camp argues that Obama equated the incursion to the US invasion of Iraq by suggesting that the United States also violated a country's sovereignty.

"We've got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies that they can’t charge into other countries with impunity. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that front," Obama told voters in Lynchburg.

"If we are setting up -- abiding by -- international rules of the road, and saying clearly to the Russians, 'Look here are the rules and when you break them there are going to be consequences. But there's got to be a consistency there."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement, "For Barack Obama to compare Russia's aggression against our democratic allies in Georgia to the liberation of Iraq by US and Coalition forces shows a lack of judgment and experience that is unacceptable in a potential commander in chief. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Barack Obama has implied that U.S. forces are operating in violation of international law -- he accused American troops in Afghanistan of ‘just air-raiding villages and killing civilians' --but it does provide further proof that he does not have the judgment to be president."