End war in Iraq, focus on Afghanistan, Barack Obama says

WASHINGTON – Presidential candidate Barack Obama, seeking to burnish his foreign policy credentials in advance of a trip to Europe and the Middle East next week, said this morning that ending the war in Iraq responsibly and defeating terrorist groups in Afghanistan were his top objectives.

The presumed Democratic nominee outlined positions that separate him from his Republican challenger, John McCain, who promptly denounced Obama’s plans at a campaign stop in New Mexico.

“By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe,” Obama said in his speech here, which continued a theme he has outlined before: Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be the centerpiece of the war on terrorism.

“As should have been apparent to President Bush and Sen. McCain,” Obama said, “the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was.”

Obama restated his vow to withdraw combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of becoming president. That, he said, would free up the resources needed to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Our troops and our NATO allies are performing heroically in Afghanistan, but I have argued for years that we lack the resources to finish the job because of our commitment to Iraq,” Obama said. “I will make the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority that it should be. This is a war that we have to win.”

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Albuquerque, McCain retorted:

“Sen. Obama will tell you we can’t win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq. In fact, he has it exactly backward. It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan.

“I know how to win wars,” McCain said. “And if I’m elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory.”

McCain also said he would capture Osama bin Laden.

In his speech, Obama said he would send additional troops – two combat brigades – to Afghanistan. Painting a broad approach for foreign relations, Obama also called for securing nuclear weapons from terrorists, achieving energy security and rebuilding alliances.

“As president, I will pursue a tough, smart and principled national security strategy – one that recognizes that we have interests not just in Baghdad, but in Kandahar and Karachi, in Tokyo and London, in Beijing and Berlin,” Obama said.

McCain, who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has stressed his foreign and security policy credentials during the campaign. On Monday, he criticized Obama’s stand on Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing that Obama had opposed the increase in U.S. troops in Iraq, a tactic that has brought greater security.

McCain today called for a new strategy that includes working with allies to ensure a unity of command in Afghanistan, and said he would seek at least three combat brigades to be sent to that country.

“The status quo is not acceptable. Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated, and our enemies are on the offensive,” said McCain. “From the moment the next president walks into the Oval Office, he will face critical decisions and crucial decisions about Afghanistan.”

The Arizona senator said that Obama “is departing soon on a trip abroad that will include a fact-finding mission to Iraq and Afghanistan. And I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to Gen. [David H.] Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time. In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: First you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy.”

President Bush, in a White House news conference this morning, also urged that Obama listen to commanders and diplomats in Iraq.

“It’s a temptation to let the politics at home get in the way, you know, with the considered judgment of the commanders,” Bush said. He argued that the effort in Iraq was succeeding but acknowledged that the war in Afghanistan remained “a tough fight.”

The New York Daily News reported today that the Obama campaign altered its website to remove a statement that Bush’s surge of troops in Iraq “is not working.” Over the weekend, the site was changed to describe an “improved security situation” at the cost of U.S. lives.

Campaign aide Wendy Morigi told the newspaper that Obama is “not softening his criticism of the surge. We regularly update the website to reflect changes in current events.”

Muskal reported from Los Angeles and Nicholas from Washington. Staff writer Robin Abcarian contributed from the McCain campaign in New Mexico.

 michael.muskal@latimes.com

 peter.nicholas@latimes.com