John McCain condemns Barack Obama’s Iraq policy

Denver – John McCain launched a blistering attack today on Barack Obama’s foreign policy, contending that the Democrat’s opposition to the surge in Iraq would put national security at risk.

McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, has backed the troop escalation that he now credits for improving security in Iraq.

“Sen. Obama told the American people what he thought you wanted to hear,” McCain told the GI Forum, a Latino veterans group holding its national convention here. “I told you the truth.”

His speech covered familiar ground but was unusually aggressive toward Obama, who to the frustration of the McCain campaign has dominated the headlines this week with his trip to the Middle East and Europe. More than one-third of McCain’s 26-minute speech consisted of harsh language targeting the Illinois senator.

At the same time, McCain tried to steal some of Obama’s thunder on troop withdrawal. The presumed Democratic nominee has pledged to pull troops out of Iraq within 16 months if he is sworn in as president. McCain has attacked that pledge as reckless and argued that a pullout can only be dictated by conditions on the ground.

But today he forecast a similar reduction.

“I’m confident we will be able to reduce our forces in Iraq next year, and our forces will be out of regular combat operations and dramatically reduced in number during the term of the next president – I think you know who I’m talking about,” he added with a chuckle. “We have fought the worst battles, survived the toughest threats, and the hardest part of this war is behind us.”

Obama was traveling in Europe, but his campaign issued a statement criticizing McCain.

“The American people are looking for a serious debate about the way forward in Iraq and Afghanistan, and angry, false accusations will do nothing to accomplish that goal,” spokesman Bill Burton said.

“Barack Obama and John McCain may differ over our strategy in Iraq, but they are united in their support for our brave troops and their desire to protect this nation. Sen. McCain’s constant suggestion otherwise is not worthy of the campaign he claimed he would run or the magnitude of the challenges this nation faces,” Burton said.

McCain spoke in a Denver hotel banquet hall to a supportive crowd of veterans, who frequently interrupted his speech with cheers and gave him a standing ovation.

“We were on the brink of a disastrous defeat, just a little more than five years after the attacks of Sept. 11, and America faced, my friends, a profound choice,” McCain said. “We could accept defeat and leave Iraq and our strategic position in the Middle East in ruins, risking a wider war in the near future. Or could we summon our resolve, deploy additional forces, and change our failed strategy?”

He said the stance on the surge was a “real-time test for an American commander-in-chief.”

McCain said he backed the surge even though it was unpopular at the time. “My choice was not smart politics. It didn’t test well in focus groups,” he said. “The country I loved had one final chance to succeed in Iraq. The new strategy was it. So I supported it.”

Obama, a senator from Illinois, voted against the surge. “He didn’t just advocate defeat,” McCain said, “he tried to legislate it.”

“Fortunately, Sen. Obama failed, not our military,” McCain said. “We rejected the audacity of hopelessness, and we were right.”

“If Sen. Obama had prevailed, American forces would have had to retreat under fire. The Iraqi Army would have collapsed. Civilian casualties would have increased dramatically,” the Arizona Republican said. “Civil war, genocide and wider conflict would have been very, very likely. Above all, America would have been humiliated and weakened.”

McCain described an Iraq where there have been no sectarian killings in Baghdad for 13 weeks, the Iraqi Army is gaining strength and the government is meeting many of its political benchmarks

“In Iraq, we are no longer on the doorstep of defeat, but on the road to victory,” he said to applause.

At the convention, McCain also pledged to improve services for veterans and spoke warmly of contributions that Latino immigrants have made to the military and the country at large. He noted that in his home state of Arizona, “Spanish was spoken before English was” and said the U.S. “would be poorer were we deprived of the patriotism, industry and decency of those millions of Americans whose families came here from Mexico, Central America and South America.”

As McCain left the stage, two members of the audience held up signs reading: “Bring Our Troops Home” and “Peace is Patriotic.”

 nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com