WASHINGTON (AFP) — White House rivals John McCain and Barack Obama traded accusations of policy U-turns on Iraq Sunday after the Democrat's return from a much-acclaimed overseas tour.
Republican McCain fastened on Obama's remark in a Newsweek interview that the size of a future US military presence in Iraq would have to be "entirely conditions-based."
"It's hard to anticipate where we may be six months from now, or a year from now, or a year and a half from now," said Obama, who plans to pull most combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office if he wins in November.
Aides said Obama was referring to the future size of a residual force to hunt down extremists and protect US diplomats in Iraq, not to a full combat contingent.
Interviewed on NBC television before leaving London Saturday, Obama also called for a "timetable for withdrawal" -- which the McCain campaign took to mean a softening of the Democrat's commitment to a hard-and-fast exit.
"After his first foray into international policy and foreign relations, Barack Obama showed again today how ill-prepared he is to lead as commander-in-chief," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
"The fact that Senator Obama has now shifted positions on Iraq three times in the last 48 hours demonstrates the poor judgment and inexperience that concerns the American people," he said.
But in turn, Obama aides said McCain had reversed himself on troop withdrawals after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wrongfooted the Republican by appearing to endorse Obama's plan in Baghdad talks.
In an ABC interview airing Sunday, McCain denied now supporting a timetable for US military withdrawals -- although he told CNN Friday that 16 months would be a "pretty good timetable" depending on events on the ground.
When that quote was read back to him, McCain told ABC: "Oh well, look. Anything is a good timetable that is dictated by conditions on the ground. Anything is good."
The Arizona senator stood by his controversial remark of last week that Obama would rather lose the war than lose the White House campaign, and berated his rival's opposition to the "surge" of US troops into Iraq.
"I'm not questioning his patriotism. I'm questioning his actions. I'm questioning his total lack of understanding," McCain said.
Addressing a conference of ethnic-minority journalists in Chicago Sunday, Obama reaffirmed that Afghanistan rather than Iraq was the most pressing front of the "war on terror."
"And one of the most important things for the next president is to work with the commanders on the ground, to find the right strategy to go after the central front on terror, go after Al-Qaeda, go after the Taliban, while maintaining some of the gains that have been made in Iraq," he said.
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