I know how to win wars – McCain

For a long time Senator John McCain campaign has been criticizing Senator Barack Obama for not having visited Iraq.

Obama is expected to visit Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel in next few days and planning to meet Palestinian leaders and make a stopover in Europe.

John McCain declared that "we have succeeded in Iraq" and confidence in winning the war in advance of Sen. Barack Obama’s trip to the region. "I'm happy to tell you we've succeeded in Iraq and we—unless we reverse the strategy that’s succeeding, we will win this war. But it's fragile and it must be dictated—the strategy must be dictated by the situation on the ground. Not some artificially, politically schedule for withdraw as Obama wants to do," McCain told a crowd in Kansas City, MO

He continued that Obama’s initial plan of withdraw would’ve “lost” the war. "I know how to win wars. And Sen Obama was wrong when he said that the surge would not succeed. And now he says he’s going to evaluate the situation. If we had done what Sen. Obama wanted to do, there would be no situation to evaluate because we would’ve lost." For a question on when the war will be won he responded, "I can say the war will be won when we will have the majority of Americans have returned and we have Gen Petraeus and his successor Gen Odierno tell us that the situation is secure. It’s still---we’ve succeed but it’s still fragile."

John McCain’s campaign launched a 8 minute video titled “ The Obama Iraq Documentary” which features Barack Obama offering. It includes 22 video clips of Obama speaking contradictory positions on the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan including the surge, withdrawal and troop funding. It opens with Obama saying,” I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse." The date "1/10/07" is featured repeatedly on the screen. In next shot Bema argues that the surge would work: "I said at the time, when I opposed the surge, that given how wonderfully our troops perform, if we place 30,000 more troops in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we would see a reduction in the violence" from "1/5/08."
Then the video then states, "Translation: You're Never Wrong If You Pretend You Gave The Right Answer All Along."

The Democratic National Committee responded almost immediately with a press conference .Hari Sevugan , Obama spokesman replied to the video saying “John McCain has ever looked for in Iraq are reasons to stay there indefinitely. He has stubbornly championed a strategy of fighting an unnecessary war in Iraq regardless of the shifting facts offered to justify it, regardless of the levels of violence and political progress in the country, and regardless of the gathering strength of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan." And now “he advocates a policy of staying in Iraq indefinitely, it is clear that he is going to continue to adhere to George Bush’s ideological agenda even as every other critical national security challenge is neglected, and our troops continue to fight tour after tour of duty and our taxpayers spend $10 billion a month in Iraq,”

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz opine that , Obama views Iraq as a political issue than a national security issue and constantly striving to craft the right political position on Iraq to help him to advance his political ambitions.